Schleicher County Medical Center is committed to providing quality
healthcare through a team of dedicated physicians and caring staff.

Schleicher County Medical Center (SCMC) has a long history of providing progressive healthcare with small town compassion to this rural community located at the Top of the Divide in Eldorado, Texas, 47 miles south of San Angelo, and about 200 miles west of Austin and southwest of San Antonio. It is a 14-bed facility that is home to a certified Level IV Trauma facility open 24/7. The facility also houses a rural health clinic and nursing home.

The community joined together in the spring of 2011 to voice their opinion on how important quality healthcare in their rural community is to them by approving a $17.37 million bond package to build a new hospital, clinic and nursing home. The new medical facilities are expected to be completed by late 2012 or early 2013 and will include a combined total of approximately 57,700 sq. ft. of brand new state-of-the-art patient rooms and equipment.

When the new medical campus is complete, the convenience of the hospital, nursing home and clinic being located together will serve the healthcare needs of the community and visitors with efficiency. The nursing home will house 32 private rooms for residents while the hospital will have 14 beds in 9 patient rooms. Both facilities will be served by a state-of-the art rural health clinic and emergency, imaging and laboratory departments.

The SCMC history began in 1966 when a petition was signed by 280 Schleicher County residents to build a hospital in Eldorado. Shortly after, a committee was formed to create a hospital district, the Schleicher County Hospital District. The charter approving the formation of a hospital district was approved by the Texas State Senate on April 6, 1967.

In 1968, Schleicher County Medical Center began serving the healthcare needs of the community with a hospital and emergency room. The Schleicher County Family Clinic and Schleicher County Nursing Home were built as additions to the hospital in 1981, to enhance the healthcare needs of the community.

To further ensure the long-term viability of the hospital, the hospital district board of directors voted to hire a company specializing in rural hospital operations, Preferred Management Corp. Quickly thereafter, the hospital became a Critical Access Hospital and the family clinic gained Rural Health Clinic status.

Our Staff


     -Doctors

W. "Gordy" Day, MD, has a private medical practice where he sees patients in Eldorado at the Schleicher County Family Clinic as well as in San Angelo and Sterling City, Texas. He also helps cover the emergency department at Schleicher County Medical Center. Dr. Day graduated from Southwestern Medical School in Dallas before completing a family practice residency at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He did his undergraduate work at Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas, and Southwest Texas State in San Marcos, Texas, in biology and chemistry. He has always had an interest in medicine as his mother was a nurse.
Dr. Day and his wife, Angela, live on a ranch in Schleicher County and have three grown children, two daughters and one son, who all enjoy getting away from the city to help take care of the livestock and horses.

Jacqueline Jeffery, M.D., has been covering the emergency room at Schleicher County Medical Center for more than 10 years. She also provides medical care for the residents of the Schleicher County Nursing Home in the Schleicher County Family Clinic. She attended medical school in New York and undergraduate school in Ohio. She is Board Certified in emergency medicine. Dr Jeffery met her husband of 40 plus years in medical school. They worked together on Indian reservations across the nation in rural areas after graduating from medical school. She and her husband have three grown children, two sons and one daughter. She enjoys traveling the world, eating fine chocolates and safaris in South Africa.



     -Physician Assistant

Robert "Bobby" Romatowski, PA-C, has been with Schleicher County Medical Center (SCMC) since 2008. He holds a master's degree in physician assistant studies from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and biology from Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX. Before coming to SCMC, he practiced in San Angelo and gained specialty experience in orthopedic surgery and emergency room care. He has been with

Bobby's lives in San Angelo with his wife, Tracey, and their eight horses and five dogs where they enjoy ranching, riding horses and visiting family and friends in their spare time. His wife is a physical therapist in San Angelo and his immediate family lives in the San Antonio area.


Monica Kessler, PA-C joined the staff at Schleicher County Medical Center (SCMC) in 2010. She is a native of Hawaii but has lived in Eldorado, TX, since 2006. From a medical family where both of her parents were registered nurses, Monica because interested in medicine herself when she was volunteering for the American Red Cross.

She has her master's degree in physician assistant studies and a bachelor's degree of science and healthcare science from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She came to SCMC with several year experiences in primary care/family practice with expertise in the areas of women's health, children's health, emergency medicine, diabetic teaching and disease management.

Monica and her husband, Chris, have a 12-year-old son, Garret. Her personal interests include traveling in the family's fifth wheel, participating in her son's activities and working in the agriculture production of Boer goats, cattle and horses.

     -Chief Nursing Operator

Vicki Farmer, RN, BSN, joined Schleicher County Medical Center (SCMC) in 1997 as a registered nurse and became the Chief Nursing Officer in 2003. She has a bachelor's degree in physical education and an associate's degree in nursing from Angelo State University (ASU), San Angelo, TX. She returned to ASU and earned her bachelor's of science in nursing in 2007. Vicki has previous nursing experience in San Angelo, Sonora and Iraan. As CNO, she is responsible for infection control, quality assurance, the Swing Bed program, trauma care, bioterrorism midigation and managing the nursing staff.
As a native of Ohio, Vicki moved to Eldorado in 1978 and is a graduate of Eldorado High School. Vicki said she chose to "work in Eldorado because I find it very fulfilling and rewarding to get to see people smile and feel better after helping them in the hospital or emergency room." She enjoys being involved in the community by substituting at school on her off days, church activities and volunteering in the local youth sports programs.

     -Hospital Administrator

Paul Burke, As the Hospital Administrator, Paul Burke comes to SCMC from Eide Bailly in Oklahoma City, a Top 25 accounting firm. He was an accounting manager there where he specialized in healthcare accounting. His past work experience also includes public accounting, staff development, client services and management. He has a bachelor of science degree in accounting and a bachelor of business administration in management information systems from the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla.

 

SCHLEICHER COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

I. THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

II. WE HAVE A LEGAL DUTY TO SAFEGUARD YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI)

We are legally required to protect the privacy of your health information. We call this information protected health information, or PHI. It includes information that can be used to identify you we created or received about your past, present, or future health or condition, the provision of health care to you or the payment of this health care. We must provide you with this notice about our privacy practices which explains how, when, and why we use and disclose your PHI. With some exceptions, we may not use or disclose any more of your PHI than is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the use or disclosure. We are legally required to follow the privacy practices that are described in this notice.

However, we reserve the right to change the terms of this notice and our privacy policies at any time. Any changes will apply to the PHI currently in effect. Before an important change to our policies, we will promptly change this notice and post a new notice in the clinic and hospital lobbies. You can also request a copy of this notice from the contact person listed in Section VI below at any time.

The terms and conditions of this Notice are subject to change by Federal or State law without notice or approval of the Hospital or its patients.

III. HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION.

We use and disclose health information for many different reasons. For some of these uses or disclosures, we need your prior consent or specific authorization. Below, we describe the different cate­gories of our uses and disclosures and give you some examples of each category.

A. Uses and Disclosures Relating to Treatment, Payment, or Health Care Operations Which Require Your Prior Written Consent.

We may use and disclose your PHI with your consent for the following reasons:

1. For treatment: We may disclose your PHI to physicians, nurses, medical students, and other health care personnel who provide you with health care services or are involved in your care. For example, if you’re being treated for a knee injury, we may disclose your PHI to the physical rehabilitation department in order to coordinate your care.

2. To obtain payment for treatment: We may use and disclose your PHI in order to bill and collect payment for the treatment and services provided to you. For example, we may provide portions of your PHI to our billing department and your health plan to get paid for the health care services provided to you.

3. For health care operations: We may disclose your PHI in order to operate this hospital. For example, we may use your PHI in order to evaluate the quality of health care services that you received or to evaluate the performance of the health care professionals who provided health care services to you. We may also provide your PHI to our accountants, attorneys, consultants, and others in order to make sure we’re complying with the laws that affect us.

4. Exceptions to consent requirement for treatment, payment, and health care operations.  Although your consent is required for numbers 1—3 of this section, we may disclose your PHI to others without your consent in certain situations. For example, your consent is not required if you need emergency treatment, as long as we try to get your consent after treatment or we try to get your consent but you are unable to communicate with us (for example, if you are unconscious or in severe pain), and we think you would consent if you were able to do so.

B. Certain Uses and Disclosures Do Not Require Your Consent.

We may use and disclose your PHI without your consent or authorization for the following reasons:

1. When a disclosure is required by federal, state or local law, judicial or administrative proceedings, or law enforcement. For example, we make disclosures when a law requires that we report information to government agencies and law enforcement personnel about victims of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; when dealing with gunshot and other wounds; or when ordered in a judicial or administrative proceeding.

2. For public health activities. For example, we report information about births, deaths, and various diseases, to government officials in charge of collecting that information, and we provide coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors necessary information relating to an individual’s death.

3. For health oversight activities. For example, we will provide information to assist the government -when it conducts an investigation or inspection of a health care provider or organization.

4. For purposes of organ donation. We may notify organ procurement organizations to assist them in organ, eye, or tissue donation and transplants.

5. To avoid harm. In order to avoid a serious threat to the health or safety of a person or the public, we may provide PHI to law enforcement personnel or persons able to prevent or lessen such harm.

6. For specific government functions. We may disclose PHI of military personnel and veterans in certain situations. And we may disclose PHI for national security purposes, such as protecting the president of the United States or conducting intelligence operations.

7. For workers’ compensation purposes. We may provide PHI in order to comply with workers’ compensation laws.

8. Appointment reminders and health-related benefits or services. We may use PHI to provide appointment reminders or give you information about treatment alternatives, or other health care services or benefits we offer.

C. Two Uses and Disclosures Require You to Have the Opportunity to Object.

1. Patient directories. We may include your name, location in this facility, general condition, and religious affiliation, in our patient directory for use by clergy and visitors who ask for you by name, unless you object in whole or in part. The opportunity to consent may be obtained retroactively in emergency situations.

2. Disclosures to family, friends, or others. We may provide your PHI to a family member, friend, or other person that you indicate is involved in your care or the payment for your health care, unless you object in whole or in part. The opportunity to consent may be obtained retroactively in emergency situations.

D. All Other Uses and Disclosures Require Your Prior Written Authorization. In any other situation not described in sections IIIA, B, and C above, we will ask for your written authorization before using or disclosing any of your PHI. If you choose to sign an authorization to disclose your PHI, you can later revoke that authorization in writing to stop any future uses and disclosures Ito the extent that we haven’t taken any action relying on the authorization).

IV. WHAT RIGHTS YOU HAVE REGARDING YOUR PHI

You have the following rights with respect to your PHI:

A. The Right to Request Limits or, Uses and Disclosures of Your PHI. You have the right to ask that we limit how we use and disclose your PHI, but you must make the request in writing. We will consider your request but are not legally required to accept it. If we accept your request, we will put any limits in writing and abide by them except in emergency situations. You may not limit the uses and disclosures that we are legally required or allowed to make.

B. The Right to Choose How We Send PHI to You. You have the right to ask that we send information to you to an alternate address (for example, sending information to your work address rather than your home address) or by alternate means (for example, e-mail instead of regular mail), but you must make the request in writing. We must agree to your request so long as we can easily provide it in the format you requested.

C. The Right to See and Get Copies of Your PHI. In most cases, you have the right to look at or get copies of your PHI that we have, but you must make the request in writing; if we don’t have your PHI but we know who does, we will tell you how to get it. We will respond to you within 30 days after receiving your written request. In certain situations, we may deny your request. If we do, we will tell you, in writing, our reasons for the denial and explain your right to have the denial reviewed.

If you request copies of your hospital records, we will charge you $1.00 per page for pages 1-10, $0.15 per page thereafter, maximum of $50.00. Instead of providing the PHI you requested, we may provide you with a summary or explanation of the PHI as long as you agree to that and to the cost in advance.

D. The Right to Get a List of the Disclosures We Have Made. You have the right to get a list of instances in which we have disclosed your PHI, but you must make the request in writing. The list will not include uses or disclosures that you have already consented to, such as those made for treatment, payment, or health care operations, directly to you, to your family, or in our facility directory. The list also won’t include uses and disclosures made for national security purposes, to corrections or law enforcement personnel, or before APRIL 14, 2003.

We will respond within 60 days of receiving your request. The list we will give you will include disclosures made in the last six years unless you request a shorter time. The list will include the date of the disclosure, to whom PHI was disclosed (including their address, if known), a description of the information disclosed, and the reason for the disclosure. We will provide the list to you at no charge, but if you make more than one request in the same year, we will charge you $25.00.

E. The Right to Correct or Update Your PHI. If you believe that there is a mistake in your PHI or that a piece of important information is missin9, you have the right to request that we correct the existing information or add the missing information. You must provide the request and your reason for the request in writing. We will respond within 60 days of receiving your request. We may deny your request in writing if the PHI is (Ii) correct and complete, (ii) not created by us, (iii) not allowed to be disclosed, or (iv) not part of our records. Our written denial will state the reasons for the denial and explain your right to file a written statement of disagreement with the denial. If you don’t file one, you have the right to request that your request and our denial be attached to all future disclosures of your PHI. If we approve your request, we will make the change to your PHI, tell you that we have done it, and tell others that need to know about the change to your P1—U.

F. The Right to Get This Notice by E-Mail. You have the right to get a copy of this notice by e-mail. Even if you have agreed to receive notice via e-mail, you also have the right to request a paper copy of this notice. To obtain a paper copy of this notice, please call 325-853-2507.

V. HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES

If you think that we may have violated your privacy rights, or you disagree with a decision we made about access to your PHI, you may file a written complaint with the person listed in Section VI below. You also may send a written complaint to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave. SW, Room 509F HHH Bldg. Washington, DC 20201. We will take no retaliatory action against you if you file a complaint about our privacy practices.

VI. PERSON TO CONTACT FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THIS NOTICE OR TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES

If you have any questions about this notice or any complaints about our privacy practices, or would like to know how to fife a complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, please contact: The Hospital Administrator, 400 W Murchison, telephone number 325-853-2507, or you may call the Corporate Compliance Tip Line at 325-853-2507 ext 1 56.

VII. EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS NOTICE

This notice went into effect on April 14, 2003.

This notice was amended on May 28, 2009.