LITCHFIELD -- Meeker County Memorial Hospital board members broke ground Thursday for the hospital's long-anticipated expansion and renovation project.
"This is a great day for health care in Meeker County," said hospital CEO Mike Schramm, while addressing a small crowd at the official groundbreaking. "We are really moving into a new era."
Before the board dug into the mound of dirt on the west side of the Litchfield hospital's existing helipad, Schramm presented those in attendance with a little humor, history of the hospital and a pledge. That pledge, he said, was to continue providing the best health care possible to the people of Litchfield and the surrounding areas.
"We've worked very hard on ensuring every patient that comes to our hospital receives the highest quality of care that we can deliver to them. That's job No. 1. That's what we're all about," he said.
Schramm said he was hired by the hospital five or six years ago with the long-term task of improving the hospital for the future. While he faced challenges, such as losing physicians and financial troubles, Schramm said the new project is going to be a big part of that future.
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"Our expansion project today is the culmination of a lot of planning," Schramm said. "It isn't just this facility plan today that has been the planning we've been working on."
Schramm told the Tribune that a lot of that planning dealt with the remaining two phases of improvements to the hospital. He said the first phase, slated for a spring 2009 completion date, is about the expansion of new space. The second and third phases, he said, are about the renovation of that space and making better use of the building's design.
The hospital will add a new emergency unit, more surgery rooms, radiology capabilities and outpatient care.
Schramm credited the Meeker County commissioners and the Litchfield City Council for being supportive. Some of their respective members were in the crowd Tuesday.
Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City was also on hand and was photographed digging into the mound. Urdahl said the project will have a lasting affect on the area.
Thus far, the hospital's new helipad is the only thing completed. The old helipad will be removed.
The Meeker County Memorial Hospital has been on its present site since 1952, when it was licensed as a 70-bed acute care hospital.
Today, Schramm said, the hospital is a 25-bed "critical access" hospital, meaning the hospital is reimbursed 101 percent of the costs it incurs to treat a patient.
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Meeker County Memorial Hospital is a nonprofit health facility.
According to previous Tribune reports, the hospital will finance the project by paying $3.5 million in equity and about $26.9 million in gross revenue bonds.
The bonds will have a 30-year maturity.
