Starke Council Receives Update on Hospital’s Capital Expenditures

Craig Felty
Craig Felty
The recently named president of IU Health Starke Hospital presented the county council this week with the hospital’s fourth quarter report for capital dollars spent at the hospital. Craig Felty told the council that the hospital suffered from the loss of the hospital’s oldest generator, and as a result, they had no choice but to put in a new one. He said other expenses included finishing the work on the hospital’s electric system, fireproofing for firewalls throughout the facility and the installation of fire stops.

The total cost of that work, Felty said, came to $47,000.

On top of that, the hospital also purchased a chemistry analyzer, equipment that Felty said will allow them to do more lab tests and will replace their older equipment that was becoming antiquated. This, he said, will increase efficiency, patient safety and the hospital’s standard of care. The price tag for that came to $136,000.

For the first quarter of 2014, Felty said they have no capital expenditures planned and everything is under a capital contingency.