Wednesday’s monthly board meeting of the V.I. Government Hospital and Health Facilities Corporation approved nearly $8 million for rebuilding the territory’s hospitals, voted in favor of new medical personnel and elected a new slate of officers.
The board approved almost $2 million for low voltage systems, furniture, fixtures and to protect the front brow of the building from leaking rain at the Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute on St. Thomas. They also voted in favor of $6.6 million for building the interim hemodialysis outpatient facility at St. Croix’s Juan F. Luis Hospital. All of the expenses were vetted by the Finance Committee earlier in the week and depend on approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The elections of officers resulted in Dr. Jerry Smith being named the new chairman and Health Commissioner Justa Encarnacion as the vice-chair. Julio Rhymer, V.I. Office of Management and Budget commissioner, will serve as the new treasurer, and Christopher Finch, the current chairman, as board secretary. The new officers will take over in February due to previous commitments.
The board also voted to approve five physicians for initial assignment at Schneider Regional Medical Center and three physicians were reappointed to the medical staff at JFL.
At the beginning of the meeting, Finch introduced Darlene Carty Baptiste, the new chief executive officer for JFL, who will relocate to St. Croix in February. She has attended two board meetings remotely. Clint Ferris was also introduced as the new policy adviser to the governor for Health and Human Services. He will attend Territorial Hospital Board Meetings.
Tina Comissiong, SRMC’s chief executive, was asked about the two recent cyberattacks at the hospital and said one showed no evidence of information loss but “a bad actor in the system.” The second attack happened when the computer system was locked down with “no evidence of anything being removed.” Board Member Kevin McCurdy said it appeared the hackers planned to disrupt the organization and perhaps extract a bribe.
According to Finch, the board discussed a press release from Sen. Ray Fonseca, encouraging Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. to declare the territory’s health care facilities in a state of emergency. Fonseca cited the need for emergency funding for staff, equipment and supplies. Finch spoke with the senator and said many of the delays in rebuilding the hospitals are a lack of bidders — not funding. FEMA has approved the construction already.
“We don’t have a problem of that nature. JFL had to be rebid because there were no bids the first time,” Finch said. “He’s [Fonseca] focused on the hospital and I appreciate that.”
Trustees attending the meeting were Finch, Smith, Rhymer, Encarnacion, Dr. Frank Odlum, Greta Hart Hyndman, Faye John-Baptiste, Kevin McCurdy, and Dr. Albert Titus.
