By KRISTI MAYFIELD

Special To The Times

For many folks in the local area, the closing of the Oak Valley Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit early last year caused great concern so when David Neal, VP Nursing, presented the plan to reopen the ICU, both the OVHD Board as well as the residents in the audience seemed pleased to receive the news. Neal presented the facts and figures associated with the cost of reopening, including recruitment for staff with a plan to reopen a four bed ICU in October of this year.

“This goes right to my heart as we had to send a valued member of the community out to Modesto because we couldn’t perform the surgery here because we didn’t have an ICU,” said Neal. He continued on, stating that reopening the ICU is an integral part of the long-term plan to become a stand-alone acute care facility.

OVHD is also working to become a comprehensive Bariatric Center with bariatric surgeries on the rise.

Other services that OVHD will provide include infusion therapy, which they are currently offering, and inpatient dialysis with more than 50 local residents receiving dialysis and traveling to other locations outside Oakdale to receive treatment.

“Knowing that if you’re really sick, you won’t have to be transferred to Modesto will help restore faith in Oak Valley Hospital,” said Neal when addressing the various services that many residents in the hospital service area need and currently have to travel elsewhere to receive.

In addition to reopening the ICU, Matthew Heyn, CEO of OVHD, shared that OVHD is partnering with Sound Physicians, a medical group founded by physicians which focuses on better approaches and better care for patients.

“By partnering with Sound Physicians, we are bringing Board Certified Physicians to the ER, which means that they have received the highest level of training and this will also mean better response times for our patients,” said Heyn.

Sound Physicians will provide additional ER Physicians along with specialized Hospitalist services which are designed to expand the level of care that OVHD provides. Sound Physicians will begin treating patients at Oak Valley Hospital on June 2, with a meet and greet reception that is open to the community on May 15 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Oak Valley Hospital District Café, at 350 S. Oak Ave., Oakdale.

For more information about the upcoming changes and/or Sound Physicians visit: https://oakvalleyhospital.com/ or https://soundphysicians.com/