BGH Earns Accreditation Gold Seal
Positive Survey Confirms Commitment to Standards

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
      Buchanan General Hospital recently learned it has gained accreditation with full standards from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
      The hospital also earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval.
BGH participated in an unannounced survey of the hospital in January.
    According to BGH Administrator Joan Jamison, the hospital asked to participate in the unannounced survey process last May.
      The surveyors arrived without notice to the hospital on January 17, 2006 to begin the four-day review.
     Jamison noted BGH was among the first hospitals to participate in the JCAHO unannounced survey process. Effective January 1, 2006, all accredited hospitals will undergo unannounced surveys every three years.
      "This unannounced survey was the most positive survey experience in the history of Buchanan General Hospital.," Jamison said. "The unannounced survey confirmed our commitment to meeting the rigorous national standards set forth by the Joint Commission.
      "Presenting without notice," she added, "afforded the JCAHO surveyors an opportunity to validate our compliance with organization, patient care and safety standards during normal day-to-day operations."
      Other hospitals seeking accreditation go through the same survey process, which Jamison noted puts all hospitals on an even field when it comes to judging their compliance with national standards.
      Two physicians and a nurse surveyor conducted the BGH review.
      "What it boils down to is that they come in and assess us for what we do every day," Jamison said. "They looked over all the departments and interviewed staff and patients. It put our front line people in the spot light."
    Under that JCAHO scrutiny, the hospital came through as being fully compliant and Jamison said that is something that is a credit not only to individual staff members, but to managers who oversee those departments as well.
    Jamison credited the success of the survey to what she called the "outstanding efforts made by the employees and physicians in complying with the Joint Commission’s Accreditation Standards, National Patient Safety Goals and National Quality Improvement Goals."

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.

'Highly Qualified' Teacher Rate in County Going Up

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
         (Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a two-part series on the recently released state department of education report examining the percentage of "highly qualified" teachers teaching in the Buchanan County School System. This week focuses on the results division-wide and specifically at county high schools and the career and technology center. Next week will focus on elementary school results).

     While the figures aren’t 100 percent, they are improving as to the percentage of "highly qualified" teachers teaching in the Buchanan County School System.
       All four county high schools -- Council, Grundy, Hurley and Twin Valley -- and the Buchanan County Technology and Career Center met the mark.
       The instructional personnel report for Buchanan County was released last month by the Virginia Department of Education and shows that Buchanan has some 98.31 percent of its 328 teachers meeting the federal No Child Left Behind designation as to the percent of "highly qualified" teachers.
       The report lists, by name, instructional personnel not properly licensed or endorsed for their assignments. It does not assess ability to teach a particular subject, only the paper qualifications of that instructor.
        The federal designation is based in part on a teacher’s endorsements and a school division’s use of that personnel in his or her endorsed areas. The designation focuses mainly on core subject teaching areas, including English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign language, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography.
         The 98.31 percent rate for Buchanan County for the current school year is up from 96.2 percent.
       Superintendent Tommy P. Justus noted that in 33 states, the "highly qualified" rate ranged from 90 to 99 percent.
        According to Justus, in numbers that means that 408 classes -- of 415 core subject area classes -- taught in core subject areas in Buchanan County are taught by teachers who meet the federal designation of "highly qualified."
      Classes being taught in Buchanan County by properly endorsed and licensed instructional personnel in all areas not designated core subject areas number 358, while the number of classes in all areas not designated as core subject areas being taught by licensed.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.