ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9601020016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
Montgomery Regional honored
BLACKSBURG - Montgomery Regional Hospital's home health department is the winner of several national awards from Columbia/HCA Corp., the hospital's parent company.
The department was one of eight winners of the Quality Award among the company's 180 home health agencies. The award was based on survey results from governmental regulatory agencies that monitor compliance with federal and state patient-care standards.
Montgomery's home health department also won the Productivity Award for efficiently delivering patient care to a large number of patients. Productivity and planning are important considerations for hospitals that serve rural populations and therefore require health care workers to spend a lot of time traveling. The hospital provides home health treatment to patients within a 35-mile radius.
Montgomery also won an award for its accounts receivable management. The award recognizes its understanding of complex reimbursement systems involving Medicare, Medicaid, insurance and managed-care companies.
Only two other home health agencies in Columbia/HCA received all three awards.
On Hepatitis A board
CHRISTIANSBURG - Donna Thornton, owner of Child Care Consultant Services in Christiansburg and executive director of the National Association of Child Care Professionals, has joined an advisory board to develop an action plan for areas suffering from outbreaks of Hepatitis A.
The board was assembled by the vaccine division of Merck Pharmaceuticals.
Thornton was selected to be on the board to represent the child-care industry. Hepatitis A, which is transmitted through person-to-person contact, is common on American Indian reservations, Alaskan Native villages and child-care centers.
Chamber picks officers
RADFORD - The Radford Chamber of Commerce elected officers and board members for 1996 at its December meeting.
William Merkt is president for 1996. He is senior vice president for strategic planning for Carilion Health System. President-elect is Ervin Strauss, general manager of American Cable Entertainment. Harriet Price of Price William Real Estate is treasurer.
Four new directors were elected to three-year terms. They are Sandra Daniels, owner of Computer System Design; Al Koch, manager of Kmart in Radford; Frank Pappert, chief financial officer for Plymouth Inc.; and R.L. Thomas, real estate agent with Giesen-Caldwell Agency.
Nicole LaMarr, public relations officer for the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, and Peggy Sowers, who works in public relations at Radford Community Hospital, were appointed to fill two vacancies on the board.
The two directors-at-large are Richard Robertson, a physician, and Beatrice Covington.
Radford goes on line
RADFORD - The city of Radford is now on line.
Radford's Web site can be reached through the USA CityLink project, a listing of cities and states on the Internet. The project has attracted more than 2 million users since its inception in 1994.
Radford's site has information on education, retirement, business opportunities, quality of life, housing and cost of living, and government and services. Visitors can find photographs, a history of the city, its population and even its latitude and longitude (37 degrees, 8 minutes, 12 seconds north latitude; 80 degrees, 34 minutes, 18 seconds west longitude).
Also available on USA CityLink is a listing for the New River Valley, showing geography and demographics, education and training, physical infrastructure, and the natural and cultural environment. Blacksburg is represented by its electronic village.
Many other Virginia localities also can be visited at http://www.neosoft.com/citylink.
They're the tops
PULASKI - The top agents for November at Century 21 Home Town Realty in Pulaski were Phyllis Hetherington, top selling agent, and Pat Kirkland, top listing agent.
Hetherington, who specializes in residential real estate, has been an agent for eight months and already has reached the million-dollar level.
Kirkland was agent of the year in 1994. He specializes in residential and land real estate.
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