03/28/2024
Lisa Byrd
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New Hospital CEO Addresses Chamber

The new Cape Fear Valley / Bladen County Hospital CEO, Lisa Bryd introduced Donda Evans, the new hospital COO, to the Elizabethtown-White Lake Chamber of Commerce luncheon crowd on Tuesday and addressed what has happened this past year and more things to expect in the future with the hospital. Bryd announced, “Dan Weatherly, the former CEO of the hospital moved into a new role with Cape Fear Valley in Harnett County. It was a good transition which gave me the opportunity the last two years to learn a lot about Bladen County.”  She proceeded with details about the hospital’s plans of more events, tele-health, and tele-medicine to better serve Bladen County.

“We are constantly working to increase our healthcare in our community.” Bryd said. “We now have tele-psychiatry in our ED.  Mental Health has been a real problem in our ED, but now that we have tele-psychiatry, those patients can get the treatment they need. We are real excited about that.” Byrd explained.

Our hospital offering tele-medicine with Cardiologists is a goal Byrd has this year. Tele-medicine will give Cardiologists at a different location the ability to see the patients in Bladen County Hospital instead of having to transport them to another facility. “It’s very important for our hospitalists to be able to have those Cardiologists to talk with, and the tele-medicine offering the Cardiologists the ability to actually see the patients” added Byrd.

The hospital offers two operating rooms, strong Kids Care, OBGYN, and Radiology departments; along with, Cardiology consultations.  The hospital has a new project at their clinic in Dublin. The goal this year is to break ground for a new building to replace the current Dublin clinic. The new clinic will be twice the size of the current building, offering six exam rooms. “The main thing is we want to hear from you. We want to hear what we are doing well and what we need to improve on.”

Ashley Dowless, the hospital Marketing Director, will be working real hard on hosting events at the hospital. Dowless has plans to host two health fairs at the hospital this year. The public will be invited to tour the facility at these two events. She will also be partnering with the Chamber of Commerce on the 2nd Annual Summer Sound Concert events. The hospital would like to encourage the community to support all these events and give feedback.

Chamber member Robin Summerlin asked, “What is the status of the new hospital?” Byrd answered by saying, “We want one. We have to make the money, is what it comes down to. We are working to get there.” Growing the services and the bottom line in the next couple years will help secure the loan from the bank needed for the new hospital. She went on to explain, “We aren’t quite there yet. We are getting there. We are doing much better than we were three years ago. Our goal is to make $1.5 million this year. We can get there. We just have to offer more services and get it out to the community. We are working on it.”

If you would like to learn more about Cape Fear Valley / Bladen County Hospital you may visit their facility at 501 South Poplar Street or visit their website, http://www.capefearvalley.com.

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