Three Rivers Hospital bond is on Nov. 7 ballot

BREWSTER – A $72 million bond to finance a new, but modest facility was the elephant in the room at the regular monthly meeting of the Three Rivers Hospital Board of Commissioners last Wednesday, August 30. The bond measure will appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.

Voters will be asked to support their community-owned critical access public hospital with the bond measure that will be repaid over 30 years. The cost breakdown based on current data is $1.39 per $1,000 of assessed property value, or $278 per year for a home valued at $200,000.

The first part of the board meeting was devoted to a review of the hospital’s 2022 financial audit, discussion of bond promotional strategies, and visual renderings of the proposed facility’s architectural elements.

“I’ve been here almost 10 years now,” said Graham in his administration report to the board. “Just thinking where we are now versus where we were when I got here is pretty breathtaking to think about the progress that we’ve made. If we could move it forward to having a new building in the next five years that would be a fantastic place for us as an organization.”

Graham added that even with its financial ups and downs over the years Three Rivers has made incremental progress.

A comment from the auditor following her 2022 report was telling: “Your biggest concern is how to get yourselves a new building and out of your operating losses,” she said.

NRHA offers help

The National Rural Hospital Association (NRHA) in conjunction with the USDA has offered at no cost a consultant from Stroudwater Associates, the leading consulting firm in the nation for critical access hospitals. The consultant will produce a feasibility study specific to revenue goals over the next decade for the new facility including some milestones that would need to be met to reach those goals.

“That’s a valuable service that we would normally pay a lot of money for,” said Graham. “The USDA wants to make sure that people who borrow from them - which are primarily critical access hospitals – are in a financial situation to be able to sustain a new building.”

The Stroudwater study would complement a strategic plan and lay out the hospital’s reference markers identified by the independent consultant.

“When we think about the future of healthcare in our hospital district, we know our current building is going to be insufficient to meet those needs,” said Graham in a TRH media release. “We’ve been here for almost 75 years providing services. While our team has done a wonderful job maintaining the building, some of our infrastructure is well past the end of its life.”

Renovation ruled out

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, Graham said. The current facility at 507 Hospital Way would need to make way for the new one, as Three Rivers has decided not to purchase property elsewhere.

“If the bond is approved, we want to be good stewards of those funds,” Graham said. “We discussed moving to a new location, but our highest priority is our community’s healthcare needs.”

The project is currently set up to be completed in two phases.

       • Phase One would include the emergency department, laboratory and radiology services, expanded surgical and recovery suites, and supporting departments such as dietary.

       • Phase two would include the family practice and specialty clinic, Three Rivers Family Medicine, currently located at 415 Hospital Way. The hospital is also planning a designated area for physical and occupational therapy and other therapy services.

Both phases of the new hospital plus grounds and parking improvements would take a couple of years to complete.

Three Rivers hired architect David Franklund to draft an exterior rendering of what the new hospital could look like, along with tentative floor plans. Franklund shared those preliminary plans with the board and explained his design suggestions.

Hospital leaders and elected board members will be scheduling meetings in the communities served by the hospital district over the next two months.

A meetings calendar and more details about the new building will be added to the hospital’s website, www.threerivershospital.net. Questions regarding the new building and the bond can be directed to Business Development Coordinator Jennifer Best at 509-645-3347 or media@trhospital.net.

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