Hospital Facilities Update

February 1, 2010

ORD - As construction of the new hospital continues ahead of schedule and under budget in anticipation of a Fall, 2010 opening, officials at Valley County Health System have completed a position statement on the use of the current health care facilities. According to CEO Larry Schrage, the Board of Trustees has carefully considered all relevant options in the interest of patient service, community partnering and financial feasibility with the following conclusions:

The Support Services Building, located at 400 South 23rd St., will be the permanent location of the Home Health and Hospice staff. In addition, the staff and vehicles which serve the Public Transportation Department will be located at this site.

Ord Family Health Center, located at 207 South 26th St., will be moving to the clinic in the new hospital. The future use of this building remains under consideration.

Valley View Living Center, the long term care intermediate care center located at 217 Westridge

Drive, will remain in its current location. As announced in earlier releases the Board of Trustees has authorized funding for interior renovation, new resident room furniture, dining and kitchen improvements and a new paved parking lot.  Future expansion of long term care services will be announced as space becomes available in the hospital connecting corridor, known as "C" wing.

The old hospital will be vacated and locked for the first year with consideration of future use at a later time. Although the board has considered various use and user option proposals, studies indicate that the financial feasibility of these projects, including boiler replacement, utility costs, asbestos removal and negative reimbursement impact would result in several hundred thousand dollars worth of unreimbursed costs and ongoing operational deficits. According to Schrage "our initial thoughts on the use of the old hospital were to provide a joint community based approach that would have mutual advantages to both VCHS and the community we serve. However, in the final analysis, the negatives of trying to convert the old hospital to other alternatives far exceeded the positives, particularly from a risk and financial management perspective. VCHS is committed to continuing our fitness and wellness program for the community and we are in the process of analyzing the scope and location of this program. As time goes by we will continue to evaluate the best and ultimately the final solution in terms of the future use of the old hospital space."