Board considers new hospital

Wallowa Memorial Hospital CEO Larry Davy suggested that a $10 to $11 million facility could be built on an undetermined site. No available sites have been located in Enterprise, but other sites within the county could be a possibility.

Davy said that departments of the hospital are not in compliance with state standards and, lacking proactive measures by the district, the hospital could be shut down in the next three, four or even ten years.

"A majority of our departments are at 50 percent of noncompliance," said board chairman Ed Jensen who was adamently in support of constructing a new hospital. "If we don't do this (build a new facility) in the near future, we will have written off medical care in Wallowa County."

The nursing home, now known as the Wallowa Valley Care Center, was built on to the hospital in 1962. A hospital addition was constructed in 1972 and the cafeteria and additional nursing home work done in 1998.

Davy said that the Critical Access designation the small hospital now qualifies for would pay for an estimated 50 percent of a new hospital.

After hearing Davy's power point presentation board member Bob Evans said, "We don't have much choice. We must get started on the process of building a new facility."

Davy was instructed to draft a request for a feasibility study to be presented at the Feb. 24 board meeting. The feasibility study will include an independent financial analysis and long term demographics for such things as doctors, patients and the care center.

The care center's financial relationship with the hospital was discussed in depth.

Wallowa Memorial Hospital has 25 beds and the Wallowa Valley Care Center 32 beds.

Jensen suggested that by keeping the contracts locally that the hospital "would be an economic stimulus package for Wallowa County." One key he saw to that end would be to name a local project manager.

Board member and Community Bank CEO Bruce Penoske, to emphasize the importance of their discussions, said that the district has an annual payroll of $6.2 million.

During his power point presentation Davy noted that the hospital is at the limit of its property lines and has no room to expand. He said that plumbing and electrical wiring are in need of upgrades. He said that negatives to a new hospital would include the debt it would incur and what to do with the old facility. One suggestion for the latter was to rent out rooms for office space.

A new hospital would allow the district to expand in technology, increase efficiency and, most importantly, maintain a hospital in Wallowa County for years to come.

"Funding is not going to be a problem. Payback will be the problem," said Penoske. Jensen disagreed, thinking aloud that payback would not be a problem either. "Paying this off is not a problem to stop us from building a hospital," said Jensen. "We will have bigger problems if we do not proceed."

The idea of constructing a new facility surfaced in total Jan. 8 when Davy received an Architectural Review Report prepared by Don Nyberg and commissioned through the Oregon Rural Health Association. The report denoted the number of areas in which the hospital facility was out of compliance with state standards.