By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Mark Turner, the CEO of Mountains Community Hospital, had good news for the hospital’s board of directors at their June 28 meeting: Their $50,000 USDA loan for a proposed retrofit and expansion plan had been approved at an interest rate of 3.5 percent.
That loan will become official once the paperwork is completed and filed.
As outlined at the board’s June 7 meeting, MCH has to comply with seismic safety standards by 2030; that would be Phase 1 of a proposed project. Phase 2 would build a new acute care wing. And Phase 3 would convert the current acute care wing to additional rooms for the Skilled Nursing Facility
Turner also presented the designs from the team – Bernards + HMC Architects – that was being recommended to accomplish the project. One reason for the choice: Their construction period was shorter by a year than a second firm that had submitted a design.
As Turner displayed artist’s renderings of the proposed build, he explained that the entrance to the new emergency department would be by the current helipad. The existing ED entrance would be used as the ambulance entrance.
The main entry will be much safer for both vehicles and pedestrians, as there will be blocks people can sit on that will prevent anyone from driving into the building.
“This proposal beat the other one submitted in terms of design and experience,” Turner said. “They have done this; the other people hadn’t.”
Board member Barry Smart raised some concerns.
“We met about the feasibility study (earlier this month),” Smart said. “A couple of things struck me. Does it make sense to do this (expansion) with the population we have? Are we overdoing it? I want to be careful.”
Smart added that this would be “a lot of expense for the number of people we’re talking about. I’m concerned. I would like to see a good reason why we need as much as we see projected here.”
Turner replied that a community member had called him with similar concerns. “That is what construction is costing these days. We can’t operate out of a 1951 building forever. Yvonne (Waggener, the chief financial officer) and I have the same concerns. We don’t want to saddle MCH with incredible debt.
“We are not committed to doing anything moving forward,” Turner noted, “but we have to be seismic compliant by 2030. We could retrofit the existing building and not add any new construction. I don’t think the employees or community would be very happy with that.”
Turner added that he thinks the hospital “will end up with new construction. This design has all our wants in it.”
But, he went on to say, “We need to take care of our future needs but maybe pull out some wants to achieve some savings. That’s the conversation I’d like JLL (who did the feasibility study), us and the design team to have.”
The biggest cost reduction possibility would be a smaller med/surg unit, Turner said, reducing the number of beds.
He added that the current ED is not configured to be efficient. “We need more privacy. Everyone can hear all the conversations. Let’s put our money in the highest priority items.
“We’re not obligated to do anything but we think this design team is the best,” Turner said.
The board voted unanimously to approve Bernards + HMC Architects as the design team.
Following the meeting, Turner said that, while they selected the design team, “that doesn’t mean we move forward with the building program I presented. We are taking Barry’s concerns seriously and will meet to discuss our options.
“We will also work very hard to develop a plan that helps us meet community needs and maintain the hospital’s financial stability.”
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