Haxtun Health hires Dr. Dana Morgan to start seeing patients this summer

The medical team at Haxtun Health is fully staffed. That news came from Chief Executive Officer Dewane Pace in a late-April meeting of the Haxtun Health Board of Directors.

Pace said that Dr. Dana Morgan has accepted a full-time position with Haxtun Health. Dr. Morgan grew up in Montana and graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine. She finished her residency in Family Medicine at Poudre Valley Hospital in 1996. Dr. Morgan’s areas of interest include family medicine for all ages, age management medicine, bio-identical hormone replacement and cosmetic medicine. She is a certified BioTE provider and is enthusiastic about helping middle aged men and women live healthier lives through hormone optimization.

Dr. Morgan has five grown children and four grandchildren. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her kids, quilting, crocheting and traveling. Dr. Morgan worked in Yuma for several years before moving to Eaton and missed living and working in a small town.

The new Doctor at Haxtun Health should start seeing patients in early summer. With her addition, the Medical Staff team at Haxtun health is now fully staffed.

In his report to the Board, Pace also announced the addition of a new vehicle to Haxtun Health. Pace said Haxtun Health delivers almost 2,000 prescriptions a year and puts nearly 15,000 miles on the delivery vehicle. The current delivery vehicle had become unreliable which put Haxtun Health at risk of losing the delivery service to the community.

However, with funds from the Haxtun Hospital Foundation, Haxtun Lions Club and several other private donors, enough money was raised to purchase a new vehicle, which will give Haxtun Health the ability to transport patients to and from medical appointments such as the dentist and eye doctor and offer pharmacy delivery to the Haxtun community.

The new vehicle is a 2024 Chevy Equinox and came at no cost to Haxtun Health.

At the end of the meeting, during action items, board members with Haxtun Health voted to extend a line of credit with Pioneer Bank for another 12 months. According to Pace, last year the Board asked Pioneer Bank for a line of credit to bridge any gaps that might occur while waiting for funds from grants to keep construction progress on the Main Street Project moving forward.

“We have not had to use any of those funds but the line of credit expires this month and this was just to extend it for another 12 months. We have been very fortunate that the grants have come in timely but just want to make sure there are no gaps in the timeline and can keep going forward,” Pace added. “The line of credit is for $1.8 million against our CDS (Congressionally Directed Spending) Grant of $2 million.”

In other business:

• Haxtun Health has one nursing staff position open, one for a certified nurse’s aide;

•Dr. Stephenson competed Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support recertification and both Dr. Seinfeld and Dr. Stephenson competed certification to be able to assist with Medical Barium Swallow Studies with Speech Therapy;

• Ellen McConnell assumed the role of Pharmacist in Charge effective April 1;

• Charles Choe will be joining the pharmacy team upon graduation from the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Choe was one of several students who rotated at Haxtun Health from Colorado State University during the School year;

• Tsveta Petkova started as Lab Director. The Director begins with a fully staffed lab.