McDonough District Hospital will no longer handle dining and housekeeping services in-house.
MDH President/CEO Kenny Boyd said the move will save nearly one-million dollars over the next five years.
“The goal is to put as much of our excess revenue back into patient care items. So whether it's equipment, patient care facilities, direct patient-care staff -- those types of pieces. It allows us to keep those dollars internally,” Boyd said.
The hospital is now contracting with Crothall-Morrison Healthcare out of Pennsylvania to handle all dining services and housekeeping. The company works at hundreds of hospitals across the nation.
“They have about 350 chefs employed that help with different menu choices and preparations of meals for patients, so (it's) just a different level of care being provided to our patients,” Boyd said.
All of the 47 hospital employees who worked in food service and housekeeping were given the option to join the new company at the same salary. Boyd did not know how many will make take advantage of the offer.
The hospital is partnering with Denman Linen Service out of Quincy to do its laundry. Boyd says seven of the eight people who had been working in that department were laid off as part of the transition.
“We worked them to provide severance packages with them to show appreciation for their years of service,” Boyd said.
Boyd said these are large scale cost-saving measures for the hospital.
“With any business, you have to constantly evaluate opportunities to improve services and contain costs as we move forward,” Boyd said.
