Loris News

Loris Hospital opens a new wing

Courtesy Photos

From left to right, Tim Browne, Ronald Fowler, Tracy Ray and John Ludlow prepare for the ribbon cutting on the new ER/ICU facility at Loris Community Hospital.

The medical staff has access to all the rooms from their new ICU nurse’s station.

By Greta Burroughs
On Sunday, Aug. 29,  Loris Community Hospital held its grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new emergency department and ICU. The ceremony was brief since the central attraction was the tour of the new facility.
Tim Browne, president and CEO of Loris Healthcare System, welcomed the guests by saying, “This is a great day in the life of our healthcare system. I want to thank the citizens that live in this area who have supported our hospital for the past 60 years.”
He went on to say that he was proud to present their new state of the art facility that will be used to care for the residents of our community
Dr. Tracy Ray, chairman of the LHS Board of Commissioners, remarked that several years ago the board saw the need to expand and renovate. “From the initial vision to completion, there have been many big steps. It was a long process to get to this day.”
Ray introduced Ronald Fowler who was the board chairman when the groundwork was being laid to initiate the new construction and get the process underway. Fowler led the invocation, blessing the new building and the services that will be provided from there.
Browne, Ray and Fowler were joined by Dr. John Ludlow, the hospital’s chief of staff, for the official ribbon cutting. After that the visitors were given a grand tour of the new facility. Everyone was very impressed with the spacious rooms, state of the art technology and all the care that was put into the design. The new addition was planned not only for top notch care of patients but also for the well-being of the families while their loved ones are in ICU.
The first floor of the new wing is dedicated to emergency services. There are three triage stations where injuries or illnesses will be evaluated and care initiated. Four fast track rooms will be utilized for the quick in and out cases.
For more serious emergency care, four trauma rooms are set up ready to care for the critically ill, heart attack, car wreck victims, head injuries, etc. A state of the art radiology lab is located in the ER so patients will not have to be taken into the main building for those services.
David Suggs, RN, is the clinical coordinator for the isolation section in the emergency room. He explained, “We have two isolation rooms, two OB/GYN rooms and two decontamination rooms that will be used if someone comes in contaminated with chemicals or whatever that need to be cleaned up before going into the ER.”
On the second floor, the ICU has 10 private rooms and two isolation rooms. Jeri Lynn Stalvey, RN, explained, “The typical room has a computer that will allow the nurses to be at the bedside more. The heart and other monitors have a new computer system as well. Each room is designed with two entrances, one from the nurse’s station and the second from the family gallery. There is an intercom system the family can use to have the door opened to the patient’s room from the gallery. This will allow for more flexible visiting times and provide more privacy for the patients and family.”
The family gallery is an open area surrounding the rooms that provides a warm, welcoming atmosphere for the visitors. It is furnished with comfortable chairs and tables and will have ice, coffee and snacks available.
Another change that all the guests touring the facility appreciated was the new business office. According to Teresa Pougnaud, Human Resources Vice President, “The business office has moved and now has individual cubicles for registration. It is quicker, more efficient and private. We have the emergency room on one side and inpatient/outpatient on the other.”
The new ER/ICU facility was   opened for use on Sept. 1 at 7 a.m.
Loris Community Hospital transferred patients from the current intensive care unit to its new ICU and opened its new emergency department to the public.
The entrance to the emergency department is now located next to the main entrance located on Mitchell Street.

LMS Carnival is big success

Photos by Robert Burroughs
One of the favorite games was the dunking tank. The children were able to throw balls at a large target. When the target was hit, teachers were plunged into the water as in the case of Coach Graham.

By Greta Burroughs
Loris Middle School hosted its first Back to School Carnival last Saturday to the delight of local residents. Patrons started arriving early, even before all the vendors were set up but that did not detract from the excitement.
LMS PTO president Kristie Trout and vice president Kristy Martin, along with other volunteers, had spent many hours during the week prior to the festival making sure all was in place for the big day. All the hard work paid off and the event was a huge success.
Judy Beard, LMS principal, was elated with the beautiful weather and the great turnout. “The PTO has worked so hard to make the carnival possible. I am overwhelmed by the support we have had from our families and the community. I want to thank everyone that has made this day possible. We hope to make this an annual event.”
There was a large diversity of games ranging from cookie walk, duck walk, horseshoes and ring toss to the more unusual and unique challenges such as the toilet paper toss where the kids tossed the rolls into an actual toilet and spilled milk testing the children’s ball throwing accuracy.
Other vendors had face painting, colored hair spray, jewelry, books, food and drinks and as promised, some of the teachers agreed to get soaking wet in the dunking tank and hit in the face with whipped cream in the pie toss.
 The silent auction featured themed gift packages like Clemson, USC, CCU and Loris Pride that had autographed footballs, shirts, cups, tickets and gift certificates. Other baskets had items related to NASCAR, western wear, teaching supplies, music, various foods and golf. There was also a laptop computer, a desktop computer and a blue ray player.
The list of bids on most of the items grew quite long as the day progressed and when announced, the winners were very proud of their purchases.
April Ballard, orchestra and general music teacher at LMS, put the baskets together. She said, “We had great help from the community. Teachers and principals went around to friends, families and local businesses asking for donations so we could raise money for LMS. We got tons of awesome donations from the community to support the school.”
The proceeds from the ticket sales and silent auction will be used to construct an outdoor classroom. It will be a covered area with seating for the students and electricity for any equipment needed for the lessons being held there.
The Loris Middle School Back to School Carnival not only celebrated the start of a new school year but will benefit all the students and staff from the money raised. Those attending had a great time and are looking forward to next year.