| Clearly inspired by a recent visit to a new Idaho hospital, Coulee Community Hospital commissioners voted last week to take the next step toward building their own.
With some staff members and four members of the board of directors, Administrator Jerry Lane Sept. 23 toured a new facility in Kellogg, Idaho that serves the Silver Valley.
That community, board members said they learned from officials in Kellogg, had been deeply divided, but the common cause of building a new hospital changed that.
"Silver Valley was more polarized than Grand Coulee-Coulee Dam is today," Commissioner Greg Behrens said, relating what officials in the Silver Valley described as a community more united after pulling together on the hospital issue. "It's exciting to think that could happen here."
But that kind of change didn't happen overnight. The new $18.5 million Shoshone Medical Center was just completed in August, after four years of promoting and planning with financial help from the federal Housing and Urban Development agency.
CCH Chief of Staff Andrew Castrodale said the facility "looks like a hotel." And from a physician's perspective, he said, "It's stunning."
Behrens said the Kellogg facility, designed by American Health Facilities Development LLC, was a prototype, the plans for which could be adjusted for Grand Coulee.
Lane told his board Wednesday that in order to move forward it was time to take the next step and find a design firm. He said both Hurricane Katrina and 9-11 "should teach us a lesson," and he questioned whether CCH's current facility would be up to the task of providing adequate response in the wake of a disaster at a local dam.
"It's not something to take lightly," he said.
Commissioner Tom Edwards said he's "normally negative" on the question of paying for a new hospital. "But we can't worry about that right now."
Edwards moved to authorize Lane to seek bids for design and consulting services. The board passed the motion unanimously.
Lane said under Washington state law, the process would be a complicated one with "pages and pages" of details to watch and well-defined design and construction rules to follow.
That process and that of seeking funding could be eased if the Shoshone prototype is used, suggests literature on the design firm's website. And new rules at HUD can make more money available for small, rural hospitals, states QHR, a likely bidder for the consulting services contract that worked on the Idaho hospital.
The decision to move ahead delighted Castrodale, who has advocated for a new facility for years.
"I've been waiting eight years for this," he said. "This is why I'm here." |