New Hospital
An illustration depicts the new facility planned for St. John’s Lutheran Hospital.
|
|
Libby hospital plans moving ahead
by Kootenai Valley Record
December 30, 2009
After two years of planning, St. John’s Lutheran Hospital officials are looking for ways to close the gap that will allow construction of a new $35 million facility to begin.
While construction in 2010 is still a possibility, odds that ground will be broken in the coming year are "remote," acknowledged hospital chief executive officer Bill Patten. Construction would require a 10 percent down payment, leaving the hospital with the need to take out a $31.5 million loan, and that debt load is still a few million dollars more than current projections would allow St. John’s to take on, Patten said.
"We’re not going to do anything that’s going to compromise the financial stability of the organization," he said. "We’re going to do it right before we do it fast."
Plans for the new facility have been thoroughly gone over, and "We’ve pared it down as much as it makes sense," Patten said. St. John’s now knows exactly how much it needs to secure financing and break ground -- $6.7 million, Patten said.
The hospital is still pursuing a federal appropriation to close that gap, and there are other possibilities such as a "significant gift" from the private sector or funding from W.R. Grace, if the company emerges from bankruptcy, Patten said. The hospital foundation is also working to raise funds for the project and is nearly halfway to its $1.5 million goal. Those funds haven’t yet been added into the equation, Patten noted.
An decrease in interest rates, or an increase in the hospital’s "bottom line" from payments for patient services could also help St. John’s meet its funding goals, Patten said.
An objective report from an auditing firm on the hospital’s ability to afford the project, required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, is expected to be available soon. Patten said he hopes to have a first draft in time for the hospital’s January board meeting.
St. John’s isn’t lowering its sights to hurry the project along, Patten said.
"We’re planning a hospital that has a high level of service," he said. "We could afford a hospital that has a low level of service."
The new facility will be located between Second and Third streets east of Libby Care Center. Concerns about the current hospital range from outdated surgery suites to cramped patient rooms with shared toilet facilities. The existing building dates to 1952 with expansions and remodeling in 1983, 2002, and 2006. The current facility has been stretched to its limits both in space and infrastructure, Patten said.
The need for a new hospital is not yet critical, but it could be in a couple of years, Patten said.
"We’re not there today," he said. "We’ve found ways to work around our space issues, but the day will come when we’re not able to be creative anymore."
The new building will be about half again as big as the current hospital but will have the same number of beds – 25. The decision to keep the number of beds at 25 was made in part because that will maintain the hospital’s status as a "critical access" facility, which means more federal reimbursement for costs. Projections are that 22 beds would be sufficient, Patten said. The typical occupancy at St. John’s is currently nine to 11 patients in the winter and 13 to 14 in the summer.
The new hospital is being designed to allow room for growth in departments most likely to need it, including the emergency room, the operating rooms, the laboratory and the imaging department. Staff input has been critical in the design phase, Patten said. For example, he noted that full-scale mockups were built of two options for patient rooms, and the nursing staff went through both models and voted on the designs. Each department manager has signed off on the design for their department, Patten said.
After the new hospital is completed, the basement of the existing building will be used by St. John’s as a warehouse facility, Patten said. The hospital currently rents storage space in various locations.
Portions of the upper floor of the old building be used for assisted living, psychiatric, rehabilitation or daycare facilities as well as for medical offices and some hospital departments, Patten said.
__________________________________
Editor’s Note: See the December 29, 2009 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Tuesdays, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
|
