USDA Funding Approved for Curry General Hospital
GOLD BEACH, OR May 29, 2015 - Curry Health Network today announced they have received official notification from the USDA that the request for a loan to build a new Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach has been approved.
The letter from the USDA, dated May 15, states the federal agency's Finance office has set aside $19,061,000 for the project.
"We have been anticipating the arrival of this letter for weeks," said CEO Virginia "Ginny" Razo. "The USDA has been very supportive throughout the entire process." USDA officials Sam Goldstein, Deanna Quimby and Norm Schoen joined in the hospital's groundbreaking ceremony on May 4. "The USDA and we had been hopeful an official announcement could have been made at that time, but the application process is complex and timing is difficult to predict," said Razo.
CFO Ken Landau says the USDA loan will augment the $10 million general obligation bond District voters overwhelmingly approved in November 2013. "The USDA loan terms are the best we could have hoped for; 40 years at 3.5 percent interest. There were other financing options available, but the USDA terms were the most attractive and met our goal of exercising fiscal responsibility to the District taxpayers while ensuring continuing availability of quality healthcare in our communities."
"Ken has done an exemplary job to obtain this financing," said Razo. Deb Wilson, Vice Chair of the Curry Health District Board of Directors, agrees. "We recognize and appreciate the many hours that Ken Landau has invested throughout the last months. We are very fortunate to have him as part of the Curry Health Network team."
Razo explained the USDA also issued a Letter of Conditions to the District. "The letter of conditions with which we must comply in order to receive funding is standard practice with the USDA, and we have no concerns over our ability to meet them," she said. The USDA does not provide construction financing, but will provide permanent funding for the project when construction is complete. The $10 million general obligation bond will be used for construction financing, and interim financing is out to bid with a number of interested financial institutions including Key Bank and US Bank, among others.
The Network is building the new hospital on the same property as the existing 60+ year old facility. Two modular buildings that served as the hospital's business and finance offices were removed from the west side of the property, and in that same location excavation work preparing for the foundation of the new structure is underway.
"We are very excited, as I know the community must be, to see the work beginning and to watch the ongoing construction process," Razo said. "In a few weeks, we expect that a web cam will be installed at the construction site with the video available to watch online. At the end of the construction process, it may be possible to have an elapsed time video available which will show the entire project - from start to finish - in just a few minutes."
Erdman Company, the Wisconsin-based design/build firm, has designed the new hospital to meet building code requirements for earthquakes, and DOGAMI Chief Scientist Ian Madin said earlier this year in an OPB interview it is first hospital in the United States designed with any consideration for tsunami impact. The structure will be approximately 60,200 square feet on four levels, and will include 18 patient beds, two operating rooms, a clinic, lab, radiology, cardiopulmonary services, and an emergency department with several exam, triage and trauma rooms - all designed with consideration for increased efficiency, patient privacy, safety and quality healthcare.