Community growth puts strain on local hospital

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Brian S. Orban

At the time it opened in February 1955, Elmore Medical Center was situated well outside the city limits. Built on an empty, two-acre field at a cost of more than $126,000, the 10-bed facility had just one doctor and three nurses.

Jump ahead 55 years.

Urban growth around the medical center now puts it nearly in the center of the city's current boundaries. Meanwhile, the county's growing population over this time has gradually put a strain on the facility.

Today, that steady increase in patient care has the medical center's 200-person staff nearly tapped out, according to hospital administrator Greg Mauer. Its emergency room is already overtaxed and struggles to just get by.

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Turn the hospital over to St Al's or St Lukes. How many failed bonds does it take to say no to more taxes. .The Board doesn't get!

The county doesn't need to be in the hospital business

-- Posted by twestall on Thu, Dec 16, 2010, at 8:00 AM
Bull! We do NOT need a bigger hospital here. I have visited our hospital several times (to visit or pick-up friends) and have never even seen it close to full (patient rooms)The ER is usually full of Medicaid patients that have a cold! Overtaxed ER employees, hire some more help to get people in and out.

-- Posted by Moanah on Thu, Dec 16, 2010, at 9:08 PM
That's it, when it comes to quality of life issues and improving the overall health care of our community, we have narrow-minded, cheap, tea baggers telling the rest of us it's a "waste of money"...tell that to the families with children or the senior citizen...for god sakes, where do you people draw the line!

Whether you except it or not...this area is going to grow...but "twestall" has a valid point...about the fiesiblity of turning the hospital over to the big boys (St. Al's or St. Lukes)...I agree!

-- Posted by DUMBFOUNDED IN IDAHO on Mon, Dec 20, 2010, at 3:54 AM
Wow, who would have thought that the town might have grown in size since 1955? Give me a break, have the board of directors had their heads in the sand since 1955? And what growth, the town population has declined according to the recent census. I am not sure what needs to be done but it seems to me that hospital leadership should have realized that the town has grown in size over the years and not taken 55 years to respond to the growth that we have all seen.

-- Posted by B Mullen on Thu, Dec 30, 2010, at 7:46 PM

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