Haxtun Health announces addition of physicians

Haxtun Health has added two new family practice physicians to the lineup of providers currently on staff in addition to a new partnership with a podiatrist who plans to visit patients several times a month at the specialty clinic. Announcement of the new physicians came at a meeting on Nov. 23.

Chief Executive Officer Dewane Pace told board members in his report that Dr. Andrea Lewis and Dr. Trevin Cardon will be regular, part-time family practice physicians at Haxtun Health and both plan to work one weekend a month.

“They are part of our initiative to have our clinic open all day on Saturdays,” Pace said.

Drs. Lewis and Cardon should be available to start seeing patients in Haxtun after the start of the year.

Additionally, Pace told the Board that Dr. Stuart, a Podiatrist, will begin seeing patients every other week at Haxtun Health. Dr. Stuart has a full-time practice in Windsor and will be doing outreach in Haxtun. He is a board-certified podiatrist specializing in foot and ankle surgery, Pace said.

During the November, month-end meeting, Pace and others in administrative roles gave updates about the current COVID-19 situation at Haxtun Health as Phillips County has seen a rise in cases.

“With the recent increase of COVID-19 cases in our region, Haxtun Health has taken extra precautions to ensure the safety of our patients, residents and staff,” Pace said. “We have seen positive patients, positive staff and an increase in positive cases in our community — it’s here.”

Pace told board members that Haxtun Health has restricted visitors and traffic on the campus due to the increase in case numbers in addition to deploying the TRU-D UVC robot, which is meant to zap the virus. The TRU-D UVC robot emits UV-C light which destroys DNA and is 99 percent effective at killing bacteria, spores, viruses and SAR-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“We have set up a schedule and are using this device to clean and sterilize every inch of our campus,” said Pace.

In addition to having one of the robots on the Haxtun Heath campus, the organization was able to secure two additional robots to deploy at Haxtun and Fleming schools in an effort to aggressively fight the spread of the virus.

“Our campus is clean and safe,” Pace told the Board. “We are still open for business and want the community to know that it is still OK to come to the clinic and other areas on our campus for care.”

In light of the conditions in Haxtun and Phillips County, Pace told the Board that Haxtun Health will not host the annual Christmas party for staff this year and encouraged board members to thank employees for what they have done, especially this year.

“The team at Haxtun Health continues to be here for our community, no matter what,” Pace said. “If you know someone who is a part of this team, please tell them thank you. It does not matter what their role is on the team because in our line of work you are either taking care of patients or taking care of someone who is, which is taking care of a patient.”

Chief Nursing Officer Lea White and Chief of Staff Dr. Ben Stephenson also gave updates regarding the campus and the onset of new COVID-19 cases in the area. White told board members that monitoring of all staff and visitors continues with a low symptom threshold for staff testing. She said staff is also reminding visitors and patients about strict mask wearing while in the facility as well as good hand hygiene between all patient contact. Some departments, White said, have adjusted staff to working from home as appropriate to reduce potential exposure.

Stephenson said that from the standpoint of medical staff, the number of infected staff has been low enough that filling shifts from the various departments has been unaffected and that co-workers in those departments have been assisting to cover shifts and various duties.

The following credentials were approved during the November meeting: Trevin J. Cardon, family practice; Andrea D. Lewis, family practice; Saidmunib Sana, radiology consulting; Daniel Dyer, family medicine; Andrew Stieb, orthopedics; and Mark Flora, family practice.