New hospital hangs on ballot issue

BREWSTER – Just two weeks prior to one of the most consequential votes in its 75-year history, the Three Rivers Hospital (TRH) Board of Commissioners dealt with business as usual at its regular monthly meeting on Oct. 25.

That agenda included the 2024 budget, the 1 percent levy increase, and an application to participate in the Washington State health insurance plans.

Following no comment in the public hearing on next year’s projected budget, the board voted to adopt it as presented.

The board also approved a maximum allowable 1 percent increase of $18,596.06 to be collected in 2024 on $1,859,605.80, the 2023 amount of the property tax for the hospital maintenance and operations levy.

Following a review of the medical, dental, life, and long-term disability coverage by the Health Care Authorities (HCA) for State of Washington employees, the board voted to request approval by the HCA for participation of Three Rivers employees.

To build or not to build

Earlier this year the board authorized a Nov. 7 ballot measure asking voters to approve a $72 million bond to build a “new but modest public facility” – according to a TRH media release — at the same location and on the same footprint as the existing building at 507 Hospital Way.

The bond will be repaid over 30 years and the cost breakdown — based on current data — is $1.39 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The average home value in the hospital district is $180,000. To estimate the tax amount, multiply 1.39 by your home’s assessed value. On $180,000 the tax is $250.20 per year, or $21 per month.

“An engineering review completed last year determined that renovating the existing hospital would be more costly than building new, and structural limitations wouldn’t allow it,” TRH CEO Scott Graham said.

The existing hospital was built before computers were in use. Electrical, heating, and modern equipment requirements pose a challenge for the antiquated facility. The infrastructure is well past the end of its useful life. Manufacturers no longer make some needed parts. The electrical system, for example, cannot keep up with 21st Century healthcare technology.

“We are not doing old time rural medicine here,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ty Witt. “We’re doing modern medicine here, the same as they do in the big cities.”

If approved, the design phase would begin in late 2024. Construction scheduled to begin in 2025 would be completed in two phases. Phase one is the oldest part of the building and would include the emergency department, laboratory and radiology services, expanded surgical and recovery suites, and supporting departments.

Phase two in the current single floor hospital and patient care department would become the family practice and specialty clinic, Three Rivers Family Medicine - currently located at 415 Hospital Way - and a designated area for physical therapy and other therapy services. The result:

• 24/7 emergency care in a modern environment.

• State-of-the-art laboratory and imaging.

• Expanded surgical services that provide more of what the community needs.

• Family practice and specialty services in a comfortable clinic setting.

• The ability to grow services in a modern building more appealing to providers and other skilled healthcare workers.

TRH accounting controller Jennifer Bach said TRH does about $22 million in annual revenue and about 80 percent of that comes from the local area. The hospital employs about 144 people, at least half of whom live locally.

TRH serves about 4,500 patients a year in its clinic, and about 3,500 annually in the emergency room.

“That’s saving lives every day, locally, right here,” Witt said at a recent city council meeting. “We don’t claim to do everything…but we can stabilize people and get them to the right place,”

TRH averages about one surgery a day.

“That’s not a huge number,” said Witt, “but when we do them, we do them right; our complication rates are basically zero and our infection rates are zero; our nurses are top notch.”

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483, michael@ward.media