WCCH Local Care, Local Commitment

The facility first known simply as the “Warsaw Hospital” began in February of 1911, when Dr. W. Ross Thompson set up a private practice in his West Buffalo Street home. He eventually began performing surgery there and made room for five beds for those requiring hospitalization.

At the time, there were just two nurses on duty, a day nurse and night nurse, and it’s reported that they sometimes worked 20-hour days.

In 1925, the old house was removed and a new, more modern, hospital was built. Several additions were made in 1938.

By this time, the county Board of Supervisors had purchased the private hospital, and it became known as the Wyoming County Community Hospital. A nurse’s training program that continued until 1970 was soon added, and by 1950 there was no more room to expand at the hospital’s original location, space it needed to accommodate the growing number of patients needing care.

A new hospital was opened in 1953 at its current location at North Main Street. It had 177 beds, 20 nursery bassinets and a nursing school for 34 students. In 1963 an addition that houses the current skilled nursing facility for long-term patients was added.

A recently-purchased medical building at 408 North Main Street was renovated and houses an obstetrics/gynecology practice, as well as a pediatric clinic, speech therapy services, physical therapy unit and outpatient laboratory. Rochester Urology Associates rent space at the building for a satellite office, and the University of Buffalo has an orthopedics office there, as well.

Now that the 408 North Main facility has become part of the WCCH system, its patients can be admitted from there making the process more convenient.

TODAY the 102-bed Wyoming County Community Hospital system boasts a wide variety of specialty services, along with outpatient care, emergency room care and state-of-the-art diagnostics and record-keeping.

Charlotte Hammon, assistant director of nursing, says that approximately 350 babies were delivered at the hospital last year, and adds, “We have women’s services throughout the county.”

Among these services are prenatal and postnatal care, midwife services, and diagnostics, such as mammography. In addition, a mobile MRI unit is at the hospital five days a week.

In a 2009 survey by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion the hospital received higher than average scores for infant nutrition and care as it applies to breastfeeding. Its composite score was 55, compared to a national average of 24, and an average score of 20 for all facilities in New York State. The focus of the survey was on how well the hospital’s staff educated, assisted, and promoted breastfeeding of infants, which has been shown to give infants the best possible start in life.

Hospital Chief Operating Officer Leon Kuczmarski says that five years ago a PAC (Picture Archival and Communications System) was added to the radiology department. This system makes it possible to electronically transfer digital, rotating images to other doctors and hospitals around the world. “In case of an after-hours emergency, the images can even be sent to the physician’s home,” he says.

THE HOSPITAL has a very active and highly-regarded ophthalmology department, with several physicians from University Eye in Warsaw performing eye surgeries at the hospital. The medical-surgical unit also includes the services of two general surgeons, one eye, nose and throat surgeon, and three gynecological surgeons.

Mary Richards oversees the 12-bed adult mental health unit at WCCH. Psychiatrist Dr Mark Varallo and a physician’s assistant work with patients there, and the unit also employs a crisis worker who does assessments and sees patients in their homes.

Seven of the hospital’s beds are in its intensive care unit, and 10 are in the obstetrics/gynecology unit. Kuczmarski says that about 60 percent of the medical-surgical beds are filled at any given time.

Due to the complexity of the disease and the special handling required for cancer drugs, those diagnosed with cancer are referred to other hospitals such as Roswell Park for treatment. The hospital also refers those in need of dialysis to other facilities.

THE ATTACHED skilled nursing facility currently has 160 beds for those in need of long-term care. However, the number of beds will be reduced to 138 (the average population) once the building’s renovations are completed. In addition to updating the infrastructure of the building, a rehabilitation unit will be created, as well as changes in the food delivery system and updates to the nurses’ stations.

The hospital’s emergency room is staffed 24-hours-a-day, but the hospital is a basic health care facility, not a trauma hospital. When badly-injured patients are brought to Warsaw they are stabilized and then taken by helicopter or ambulance to a trauma hospital.

Nurse-manager Laura Dutton, who has served on a local rescue squad herself for many years, points out that the hospital’s emergency services “are greatly enhanced by the individual towns’ rescue squads.

When asked about the benefits of having a rural hospital, Dutton points out that the hospital is “an economic engine for the county.” The hospital employs over 600 full and part-time people, and operates on a budget of approximately $51 million annually

“Most of those employed here live in Wyoming County,” she says. “They support our businesses, and pay taxes here.”

CEO Kuczmarski says that locals can receive “cradle to grave” care at the hospital. Comparisons to larger, city hospitals is moot, he says, because, “There is one standard for health care. We all follow the same rules.”

Assistant nursing director Hammon adds, “The caliber of health care here exceeds that of an urban facility, which can lose the human focus. Here it’s neighbor caring for neighbor. You get individual patient care you don’t receive in cities. We truly care for the whole family dynamic.”

LIKE ALL HOSPITALS, the Warsaw facility deals with the ever-changing face of health care. Medicaid, Medicare, insurance guidelines, proposed national health insurance plans – all point to an uncertain future for health-related services, nationwide.

“There are no easy answers, no real easy solutions,” CEO Kuczmarski says. But, he says, the bottom line is that, “People need to take responsibility for their own health care, by eating right, getting preventative care and exercising.”

One thing that is certain, however, is the support that locals have for their hospital. Fundraisers have netted close to $5 million for planned renovations and updates for the hospital system. In addition, the Board of Supervisors has endorsed Phase 1 of the updates, due, in part, to the community’s desire to retain its rural hospital.