Voicing concerns on the current state of the economy, Kimball Health Services Board of trustees’ member Max Revell said some consideration should be given to the gift cards given to KHS employees during the holiday season.“In all my years of banking, I have never seen things so bad with the economy,” said Revell at KHS’ monthly meeting of the board of trustees Monday evening, “I am not in favor of cutting these things, but I think consideration needs to be given to this.”Revell, who spoke with some trepidations, said that he was not opposed to the gift cards, but wanted it to be discussed first. He asked hospital CEO Julie Schnell her opinion on the matter.Schnell said that it is a something she has given a lot of thought to.“We have a smaller staff this year and are asking our people to do more,” she said, “I think we need to show them some sort of appreciation.”Schnell said that no raises were given to the staff despite the increase in workload.“If there is any possibility for us to do this, I recommend we should,” Schnell said.Revell asked David Griffiths, Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, what RW was doing this year.Griffiths said that Regional West has cut out these types of things. Now they are asking for people to be more giving instead of receiving.KHS Quality Improvement Coordinator Cindy Cramer said that in the spirit of giving, they are asking the hospital employees to make a contribution to a charity group at the annual appreciation dinner. Thanking them for the information, Revell turned to the financial sheets and said that money is down across the board.“The hospital cannot continue to survive off of depreciation,” Revell said. He added that he did think something should be done for the employees.Chairperson Sharon Baker, and member Carla Goranson, asked Schnell what the amount was two years ago.Schnell told them the current value was a $10 increase.The two board members recommended decreasing the gift cards by $10.“I would concede dropping it by $10 and still giving it to the employees,” Revell said.Once the motion was made, it passed unopposed.The board also approved giving $500 to help fund the Annual Appreciation Dinner.Former KHS employee Brian Musgrave appeared before the board to voice his opinion on his recent termination from the hospital.Before he addressed the board, Baker reminded Musgrave that this type of matter should follow the proper grievance channels. She further reminded him that he was in an open meeting and asked that he be mindful of patient rights and confidentiality of patients and employees.Musgrave described the incident surrounding his termination and, to some extent, admitted to what he was accused of.Musgrave said he approached Schnell about his termination and alleged that Schnell said she would look into it, but would side with the director’s decision.He went on to present further evidence of what he called violation of KHS policy and asked that the board come to some sort of “fairness” on the issue.The board thanked Musgrave for his comments.Tyler Plummer of FALCO presented the board with the FY 2009 Audit report. Plummer didn’t go in to too much detail but did indicate areas where minor improvements were needed.Plummer said that both Schnell and CFO Jim Garbarino were excellent to work with and that he had no disagreements with them.Plummer said that FALCO gives KHS the highest ranking he could give them.Plummer did say that the hospital has several “allowance accounts” and he recommends that they be consolidated in to one.Revell asked Plummer if he has noticed a trend in hospital financials this year. Plummer, who has been involved in three other hospital audits, said that he has.He said that hospitals are facing decline in patient services, and increase in cost of services, and an overall difficulty in recruiting new doctors.When he was finished with his presentation, he told the board that this will be the last audit he will be doing for KHS. He said that he is taking a different route in his life and thanked everyone for the excellent work they have done.“I will be available until Jan. 1 to answer any questions you have,” Plummer said.During the presentation of Quality Improvement, Cramer said that based on surveys received from patients, people are generally pleased with KHS.“Patients seem happy,” Cramer said, “they like the care they are getting from nurses and providers and indicated they would recommend us to other people.”Cramer said there was a couple of areas that needed improvement and that they will continue to strive for excellence.The trustees handled other routine items before adjourning for the evening. The board will meet again in December.