Here’s some of what WLOSers had on Saturday:
Haywood hospital losing Medicare?
WLOSer Kassandra Pride sai that the Haywood Regional Medical Center is in danger of losing Medicare reimbursements from the federal government because of poor nursing an drug dispensing services.
At midnight Saturday, the hospital will turn away all Medicare patients and direct them to other hospitals until Haywood Regional can get a new inspection, which is scheduled for Sunday.
Pride quoted the hospital’s chief of staff and another official as saying they’re working on improving service.
Back at the anchor desk, Russ Bowen said more than 50 percent of the hospital’s patients are Medicare recipients, so this could be a huge blow to the hospital. He said that Mission Hospitals is prepared to take some of the Haywood patients. And Russ quoted a statement from U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, who said he’s watching the situation and has notified Gov. Mike Easley.
In political news…
WLOSers spent a chunk of time running down results of a new Elon College poll. Click here to read the full results.
A quick rundown: For N.C. governor on the GOP side, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is tops, while state Sen. Beverly Perdue leads for the Dems. For president, N.C. residents like John McCain on the GOP side and Barak Obama on the Dem side.
In other useless news…
WLOSer Frank Fraboni had a long piece that was oddly put together. First, Frank uses a lot of hashed up video to explain what a cell phone is. Then he says there might be a spy in your pocket, because that “smart phone” can be hacked if you download the wrong virus. So Frank uses his cell phone to interview somebody in San Francisco of all places (couldn’t find anybody local, Frank?) and then uses what appears to be canned video from an Ohio company that sells cell phone virus protection software. All very weird.
In still other news…
There was something about Sunday being Oscar night… Another thing about people eating soul food somewhere… Then something else about a Big Brothers/Big Sisters fund-raising bowling event in Hendersonville.
‘Edward, you’re on’
Finally, has anyone noticed WLOSer Edward McDonald’s reports over in sports? He’s trying so hard to be like ESPN SportsCenter, but the efforts just aren’t that funny. Saturday, we see a clip of Edward tying his tie and some camera guy with a headset rushes in and screams, “Edward, you’re on!” And Edward says “In a minute, I’m getting it together,” then uses the “gettin’ it together” line to tease some sports action. Lame-O.