Over 50 years ago, no one could foresee the growth at JCMH and the massive amount of telephones their organization would need. During the beginnings of JCMH, telephones were a luxury and a fairly high expense. As the organization progressed, more phones and telephone lines were needed.

JCMH has recently overhauled the phone system, installing a completely new phone system, installing new phones in each area and assigning new telephone numbers to every department. Each department and clinic area has their own direct dial number, eliminating the need for phone extensions and going through the operator for most calls.

One reason for moving to the new phone system was a future lack of support for the older phones. By moving to the newer system, JCMH will be able to keep up with and support future technologies.

Another reason to move to a new phone system was the physical size of the equipment. The old equipment was larger than a side-by-side refrigerator. The new system is only the size of a BluRay player.

With all of these updates, JCMH now has a state-of-the-art telephone system running all of the hospital businesses in Altus.

One of the features of the new system is the ability to call staff in case of an emergency and quickly get the word out about how they need to respond. Another interesting feature is the ability to listen to voicemail thorough the email software and ultimately end up with one solution for messaging. A third capability is having cordless phones that work over the WiFi internet network but still having all of the capabilities of the desk phones.

Some of the most frequently called departments are listed below with their new numbers:

Main Hospital Number 379-5000 and 482-4781

Patient Rooms 379-5000, then dial 6+Room Number

Clinics

Diabetes Center of Excellence 379-5660

Human Resources 379-5880

Medical Records 379-5720

Pediatric Clinic 379-6100

Radiology 379-5440

Southwest Orthopedics 379-6500

Women's Health Associates 379-6140