2nd Class Postage Paid At
Tryon, North Carolina, 28782
Established January 31, 1928
POLK ^A PM.K
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COLUMBUS* 11 0
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THE WORLD’S SMALLEST DAILY NEWSPAPER
Founded Jan 31.1928 by Seth M. Vining
(Consolidated with the Polk County News 1955)
Jeffrey A. Byrd, Editor and Publisher
The Bulletin is published
Daily except Sat. and Sun.
106 N. Trade St., P. 0. Box 790
Tryon, N. C. 28782
The Tryon Daily Bulletin
(USPS 643-360)
Phone 859-9151
Printed In the THERMAL BELT of Western North Carolina
16 Pages Today
Vol. 63 - No. 160
TRYON, N. C. 28782
MONDAY. SEPT 17. 1990
20C Per Copy
The weather Thursday: high
78, low 68, hum. 80 percent. By
Friday at 7 a.m., .15 inches of
rain had fallen.
The University of North
Carolina Center for Public
Television called today to report
that Linda Haynes of Tryon has
been elected to the center’s board
of directors. It’s good to know
that a neighbor of ours is helping
to provide the best television
programming on the air.
The Polk County Board of
Commissioners meets today at 3
p.m. at the courthouse annex in
Columbus.
The deadline to make
reservations for the Tryon
Thermal Belt Chamber of
Commerce annual membership
dinner is Wednesday, Sept. 19.
The dinner will be held at the
Stone Hedge Inn on Monday.
Sept. 24 at7p.m.
Melody Jenkins, president of
Blue Ridge Mountain Hosts, will
speak on the future of this
organization which promotes
tourism in the area.
To make your reservations,
call the chamber office at 859-
6326.
Hedy Lonero of Red Fox Road
called to ask that we alert
Contionued On Back Page
Meets Tonight
The Polk County Democratic
Executive Board will meet at
7:30 p.m. tonight., Sept. 17th at
the Democratic Headquarters to
discuss the campaign and
election. All members are
urgently requested to attend.
Wolverine Ladies
Cross Country
The Polk County Lady
Wolverines participated with 7
other schools in the A.C.
Reynolds Invitational on
Thursday, Sept. 13. Polk County
finished 6th overall. Individual
scores were Karen Godlock 1st
with 21:24, Katie Malone 3rd with
21:38, Jennifer Owens 48th, 28:18;
Rhonda Burnett 52nd, 29:03;
Kelly Sparks. 62nd, 30:50. Also
participating was Earron Lewis
34:12.
Don’t Forget
Area-Wide Crusade
The Area-Wide Crusade
sponsored by Redeemed Baptist
Church begins tonight, Monday.
Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Family
Center across the road from the
church on Blackstock Rd.,
Landrum.
All churches, pastors and
anyone interested in coming is
welcome. There will be different
area pastors speaking each night
at 7 p.m. and special music. The
Crusade will continue through
Sat., Sept. 22.
St. Luke’s Hopes To Control Destiny
The Medicare program has St.
Luke's Hospital in a pickle.
Eighty percent of St. Luke's
patients use Medicare, one of the
highest Medicare patient census
percentages around. Talk about
Medicare services, for which the
hospital expects to receive $2.6
million less than it charges this
year, and you get a littany of
woes:
* Costs of health care services
have risen twice as fast as
Medicare reimbursement rates.
* The Medicare reimburse
ment policies often leave
hospitals holding the check. For
instance. the “admitting
diagnosis" largely determines
the reimbursement. If a person
enters the hospital with the flu,
and then has a heart attack, or
falls out of bed and breaks a hip
and needs a hip replacement, the
hospital is paid the
reimbursement rate for
treatment of the flu. “with
complications.”
For just five Medicare patients
in July, St. Luke’s total charges
ran to $131,951. Medicare reim
bursed the hospital $7,974.
* St. Luke’s receives even less
in reimbursements because it is
classified as rural hospital,
where the federal agency
assumes costs are lower. If St.
Luke’s had moved a few miles
south into Spartanburg County, it
would have recieved an
additional $600,000 in Medicare
reimbursements last year.
The Medicare picture is not
expected to improve, either. The
Senate Budget Committee's
recommended deficit reduction
package called for a $2 billion cut
in Medicare, and deeper cuts are
being considered in the budget
summit talks.
“The Medicare problem is
there." said St. Luke's Board of
Trustees chairman Joe Claud. "It
takes careful management for us
to be able to handle the burden
placed on us."
That careful management is
primarily in the hands of
President Tom Bradshaw and
SunHealth. the management
company hired by the board of
trustees in 1986
"What St. Luke’s is doing."
Bradshaw said in an interview
recently, “is looking at other
health care activities and
services which are independent
of Medicare reimbursements."
Two new services already
being offered are "Caregivers."
a private duty nursing service,
and “surrogate children." a
private case management
service.
There are 50 part-time
employees working in St. Luke’s
Caregivers program, helping in
the homes of any persons who are
functionally or mentally
incapable of handling their daily
routine.
Caregivers is showing a net
income for the hospital.
Bradshaw said
The “surrogate children”
program is not being widely
marketed yet. though a A«
Continued on h ^ '- '’ '*"