Jul. 27—The Daviess Community Hospital has filled a high-level vacancy in its administrative staff. New Chief Financial Officer April Settles attended her first hospital board meeting.
Settles is a Greene County native with a background in financial work including other hospitals.
"I attended White River Valley High School and then attended the University of Southern Indiana where I received my accounting and professional services degree," she said. "Following that I went to work at DKE in Evansville as an auditor, then I transferred to German American in Jasper. After that I went to Greene County where I served as CFO for Greene County Hospital."
Settles says she was drawn to DCH by the staff.
"The people drew me here," she said. "This administrative team is incredible. I think they have a lot of good ideas for the future and I am excited to be a part of it."
Like most small rural hospitals DCH is facing challenges. This month's report put the hospital in the red with lower inpatient admissions, higher outpatient cases, struggles with inflation and insurance companies dragging their feet on making payments.
"We have opportunities in front of us," said Settles. "Hospitals across the nation are struggling right now. This place is a very proactive bunch. They have a plan for the future and they work toward that every single day."
Settles points out that while she may be from Greene County, she does have Daviess County ties and wants to see DCH succeed.
"I am really excited to be here," she said. "I do have some family in the community. I take this job seriously. I know at any given time it could be a member of my family coming through the emergency room door. It is important for us to have a high quality of care to take care of everyone in the community."
"I think April is going to be a wonderful, wonderful hire," said DCH Board Chairman Deron Steiner. "It is nice to get a fresh set of eyes from someone from another organization who can maybe bring a new perspective to the way we do things."
The hospital and its management company, Ascension St. Vincents considered more than a half-dozen applicants for the job.
"She comes highly recommended," said Steiner. "She had to go through a lengthy vetting process to make the cut here at DCH and we are very excited to have her on board. I think she is going to do a great job."
In other business, the board heard a report from DCH CEO Tracy Conroy. She told the board the Customer Service Workshops have been completed and are considered to be a success.
She also told the board the renovation project is staying on schedule and that the hospital census was pretty steady for the past month.