News

Ozarks Healthcare has expanded its nutrition services for its hospital patients with the organization’s recent hire of Kurstin Koch, registered dietician. Registered dieticians provide nutrition therapy for patients, assess their nutritional needs, develop and implement nutrition programs, and evaluate and report results to physicians to determine the best path of care for the health of their patients.

Ozarks Healthcare Therapies was recently able to gift a pediatric patient, Stetson Clayton, a new wheelchair thanks to a fund established by David Zechman, former Ozarks Healthcare President and CEO, and his family through Ozarks Healthcare’s Foundation. Stetson is the son of Jared and Haley Clayton of West Plains.

Twelve nurse residents have joined Ozarks Healthcare as employed nurses after completing Ozarks Healthcare’s Nurse Residency Program. Ozarks Healthcare's Nurse Residency Program is a 12-week program for graduates of nursing school that features rotations through different departments of the hospital. Graduate nurses spent time in approximately 28 departments of Ozarks Healthcare’s hospital over 12 weeks.

Southern Bank has made a donation of $10,000 to Ozarks Healthcare’s Foundation. The funds will be used to help with costs associated with Ozarks Healthcare’s latest expansion project, which includes a new medical office building, flexible clinics, procedure suite, centralized imaging facilities, an updated pharmacy, and more.

Ozarks Healthcare will host two walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinics for those 12 and older on Wednesday, Sept. 1, at its clinics in Thayer and Alton. The Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine will be available at both clinics. The clinics are open to anyone needing their first or second dose. Third doses are currently available to only those who are considered moderately to severely immunocompromised. Those under the age of 18 who attend must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. The walk-in clinic at Ozarks Healthcare in Thayer will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is located at 1375 Nettleton Ave. The walk-in clinic at Ozarks Healthcare in Alton will be held from noon to 3 p.m. and is located at 100 Medical Dr.

Ozarks Healthcare will host two walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinics for those 12 and older on Wednesday, Sept. 1, at its clinics in Thayer and Alton. The Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine will be available at both clinics. The clinics are open to anyone needing their first or second dose. Third doses are currently available to only those who are considered moderately to severely immunocompromised. Those under the age of 18 who attend must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Celsie Morrow, speech pathologist at Ozarks Healthcare Therapies, works with children who have delayed verbal skills or diagnoses such as autism that can sometimes alter the way they communicate. Celsie helps teach her patients to communicate nonverbally, sometimes by using pictures or different types of technology. After noticing some of her youngest patients did not always take their communication devices with them everywhere, she saw an opportunity to install outdoor communication boards at area playgrounds so that children could easily communicate while away from their therapy devices.

Brandon Hull is one of Ozarks Healthcare’s CT techs who monitors COVID-19 constantly, scanning patients’ organs for damage and checking their functionality, which sometimes become very limited due to the virus’s effects. In addition to “normal” CT life – scanning bones, muscles, and blood vessels for disease or injury – Brandon and his team are heavily involved in the entirety our COVID-19 patients’ care.