New Hospital Progress Continues

GOLD BEACH, Oregon (July 15, 2014)

Since the Curry Health District voters on November 5, 2013 approved a $10 Million bond measure for the construction of a replacement Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach, much has been accomplished. This spring when the timeline was set for the hospital project, it was an admittedly aggressive timeline but one which the District thought possible.

At a meeting between State USDA representatives, Curry Health District Board Chairman, CEO and CFO held July 7 in Salem, the District learned that while the USDA remains very supportive of the hospital plan in Gold Beach, the District had likely run out of time for obtaining an official commitment of USDA funding in their current fiscal year.

According to CEO Andrew Bair, Administration has been working very hard on the aggressive plan to obtain the commitment this fiscal year. "The environmental site assessment alone required correspondence with 14 different agencies, and while the length of time to complete is not atypical, it is lengthy. Our geotechnical and feasibility studies took longer than expected, and compounded by the tardy geotech study is engineering work to determine the cost of building on this site." The District plans to construct the new hospital just west of the current structure.

"We still do not know the projected cost of our foundation," said Bair, "although we should know by the end of this month." Soil samples at the site suggest the project will require deep foundations and slope stabilization, and the additional engineering work is needed to make a cost determination.

"Much work has been done, and as expediently as possible - yet the USDA just needed a little more information and a little more time," stated Bair.

Ken Landau, the District's Chief Financial Officer, says one of the USDA's key persons who was to review the environmental study has accepted another position within the agency, a move that may well have contributed to their decision that the window of opportunity for this fiscal year has likely closed.

"Based on the USDA instruction guide, there are a number of items that need to be completed by the State office prior to the District's next steps. We have provided all the reports and information to the USDA possible at this juncture - the next steps must be done by the USDA, mostly in the form of review," Landau said. The instruction guide is comprised of a list of 160 reports, studies, audits and documents needed; and the application process is lengthy, complicated and arduous.

Bair has been fielding the same question again and again - what does this mean? "We may still get funding, just not now. The next fiscal year for the USDA begins in October," he added. "While the USDA will never guarantee funding before the actual commitment, they remain - as they have always been - very supportive of the project. We also believe we are qualified for alternative funding, however that option would take time as well and involve another feasibility study."

He paused to consider the progress made in such a short period. "Remember," he said, "we just passed our ballot measure in November. Since then we have completed a market analysis study, financial feasibility study, geotechnical study, environmental site assessment and a land title survey. Ken has put forth a tremendous amount of energy into providing the USDA with all the financial information they require. We've hired an investment banking firm to assist with marketing the GO bond. We've selected a design-build firm and are deep into the planning stages of our new hospital, although there is still detailed design work to complete before we break ground."

Bair continued, "We had been pushing for an October ground-breaking that is not likely - however not completely impossible. We will know more after the next few Board meetings. We remain focused on building the new Curry General Hospital, and are committed to continue moving forward until our community ultimately has the appropriate modern and efficient facility necessary to provide them, for decades to come, the quality healthcare they need and deserve."

Illustrations: These architectural renderings are options presented to the Board of Directors by the Erdman team in late June. Please note that these are still very much preliminary conceptual drawings, and that the design layout refinement is an ongoing process.