The financial roller coaster ride of recent weeks has ended for the Ellsworth County Medical Center, chief executive officer Andrew Bair announced April 16 at the weekly meeting of the county’s Local Emergency Planning Committee.

The hospital has once again qualified for — and received — a $1.9 million loan from the Small Business Administration through the federal Cares Act.

The loan, which eventually should turn into a grant that does not have to be repaid, will allow the center to avoid employee furloughs.

Bair said the medical center has experienced a 50 percent drop in patient visits and associated revenue since Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly issued a stay-at-home order to control the coronavirus epidemic. The governor recently extended the order through May 3.

“This came just in the nick of time,” Bair said.

Also known as the Keeping American Workers Paid and Employed Act, the Cares Act focuses on relief for small businesses and their employees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As previously reported in the I-R, the medical center was approved for the loan before being notified days later the decision had been reversed because the hospital is considered a governmental agency. ECMC receives funding from Ellsworth County and commissioners appoint its board of directors.

In response, Bair sought assistance from federal legislators and Dave Brownback of Ellsworth’s Citizens State Bank and Trust Co. in hopes of getting the loan reinstated.

Bair said he plans to use the loan money to pay for the next five employee payrolls during this period of low patient volume.

“I don’t want to have to furlough people,” he said. “They get upset and go somewhere else. Then we’ve got nobody when the volume returns.”

A U.S. Treasury Department information sheet indicates loan amounts under the Paycheck Protection Program will be forgiven as long as the loan proceeds are used to cover payroll costs and most mortgage interest, rent and utility costs over the eight week period after the loan is made.

In other business:

Bair said the public now has five ways to see an ECMC medical provider during the pandemic:

• They can visit a provider via telemedicine, using a Face Time call.

• One patient at a time can visit with a provider curbside inside the garage behind the ECMC Rural Health Clinic.

• After calling first, patients schedule an office visit in the ECMC rural health clinic.

• Well visits can be scheduled at the Rural Health Clinics at Wilson, Holyrood and Lucas.

• Satcare or Saturday Care also is available at the clinic.

“We’re still open,” Bair said. “If people need to see somebody, don’t stay home. If you are having a pulmonary embolism or something, come on in and we’ll take care of you.”

• Kerianne Ehrlich, supervisor of the county health department, said she is going to start working with local officials to plan future events in the county, such as Fort Harker Days in Kanopolis, the Fourth of July celebration in Ellsworth, the Ellsworth County Fair in Ellsworth, the After Harvest Czech Festival in Wilson and Cowtown Days in Ellsworth.

“At this point we don’t know,” she said. “I think we’ll know more come May 3 on what they do with that stay-at-home order.”

Ehrlich said Gov. Kelly can extend the order again, or begin to open things back up.

As of the meeting, there are 1,588 reported cases of the coronavirus in Kansas and 80 deaths, she said.

Ehrlich said Ellsworth County has a good supply of personal protective equipment; however, PPE supplies at the state level are still short.

Personnel from the Ellsworth Police Department, Ellsworth County Sheriff ’s Office, Ellsworth County EMS, the Ellsworth Correctional Facility and the Kansas Highway Patrol all reported they also have adequate supplies.

• Ehrlich said she has been asked about construction workers of all types — including home builders and wind farm workers — coming into the county on jobs.

“We can’t hold them from coming,” Ehrlich said.

“They’re essential workers.”

She is trying to educate the workers to go from where they are staying directly to their job sites and then back to their temporary homes, thus avoiding public places as much as possible. “It seems to be a very con

“It seems to be a very confusing concept to people,” she said. “That was most of my calls this week, explaining this.”

• Ehrlich said several people have called her to say they have a 3D printer and would be able to print the swabs used in testing for the coronavirus.

“What people don’t understand is that they have to be printed in a medical facility,” she said. “And they’re a special 3D printer. It’s just not a 3D printer you buy off of Amazon and give to your kids for a gift.”

She is working with Keith Haberer, emergency management director for Ellsworth and Russell counties, to procure more swabs and testing supplies, which are in short supply currently in the county.

• Ehrlich said the health department has applied for a $22,000 grant from the Kansas Health Care Foundation. If successful, the money will be used to purchase test kits.