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News - Jamestown Hospital, Jamestown North Dakota USA |
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| Ashley Medical Center |
| City Council supports hospital request |
| Date : - 08/04/2009 |
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On a vote of 4-1, the City Council approved a certification of community support for Jamestown Hospital’s USDA loan application Tuesday at a special meeting.
Once approved the USDA guarantees $40 million in a low-interest loan to build a new hospital. Plus, another $8 million will be allocated in a direct USDA loan. Both will finance construction a new regional medical facility in Jamestown. Alan O’Neill, vice president of finance at James-town Hospital, said the cost of building the new facility is estimated at $51.5 million, which means $3.5 million will need to be raised elsewhere.
Mayor Clarice Liechty, who was the lone vote against, said she had seen no evidence of the “significant community support.” The calls she has received do not support the move, she said. However, she acknowledged she had heard from two who do support building a new hospital at its planned location. The new hospital will be built along Interstate 94 at the Highway 281 Bypass.
Liechty said she was called an “obstructionist” by one caller.
The significant community support is needed to access federal funding, O’Neill said. The support is in reference to the fact that Jamestown Hospital is the only hospital in town and, he said, is “providing a necessary service” to the community.
The 45-minute meeting focused primarily on the hospital’s plans and its reasoning regarding a new facility. Most of the questions came from the mayor. When other councilmembers said that the meeting was about certification for a loan application, not about the project, Liechty said there may be people in the audience who had questions as she did.
Referring to the need for a new facility, O’Neill read a letter from Dr. Robert Wells, chief of the medical staff at Jamestown Hospital. In it, Wells said there has been a significant shortage of physicians nationally, which is expected to worsen as baby-boomers retire. At the same time, recruiting and keeping high-quality physicians in Jamestown has gotten more difficult.
“This has forced us to consider ways in which we may become more competitive in bringing doctors to Jamestown — and keeping them here,” Wells wrote.
A new state-of-the-art medical facility will not only provide high-quality medical care, he said, but would be beneficial in attracting physicians to Jamestown. The mayor questioned how a new hospital would bring in new doctors.
“Physicians are definitely attracted to the physical plant,” said Dr. David Plocher, a Minneapolis physician and consultant on the interior design and layout of the new facility. Plocher has been gathering input from local physicians on what they want to see in the facility.
Connie Krapp, vice chairman of the James-town Hospital Board of Trustees, said the process to build a new hospital and its location was discussed for several years by the board.
“We talked profoundly and repeatedly on the future of health care, particularly rural health care,” Krapp said. “The paradigms are changing in the health care industry.”
She said the board recognizes a new facility would be regional, especially as small-town medical facilities lose doctors and services. That means the new state-of-the-art hospital would be serving at least 65,000 people from the region. Krapp said it’s one of the reasons the congressional celegation supports it.
“We’re important regionally in the health care industry,” she said. “We’re looking at a greater community than just Jamestown.”
At one point, Councilman Pat Nygaard interrupted the mayor’s questions, saying “I’m not happy about the location either. I’d prefer it to stay downtown, but according to the architect it’s not possible. The project is going forward and it’s in everyone’s best interest that we help them secure funding.”
After the mayor’s questions continued regarding the clinics’ participation, the medical office building and handling the debt load for a new hospital, Councilwoman Kelani Parisien called the question.
“The issue before us is specifically the funding,” Parisien said. “I don’t see any reason we should stand in the way of you accessing federal funding.”
Parisien, Nygaard and Councilmen Ken Schulz and Charlie Kourajian voted in favor of granting the certification |
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| Reference : - www.jamestownhospital.com/getpage.php?name=swineflu_widget |
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