Rock Rapids, Iowa — A hospital association board in northwest Iowa needs to decide whether to go forward with plans for a $28 million hospital without knowing if the project will get a multi-million dollar loan from the federal government.
In January of 2016, the Merrill Pioneer Community Hospital Association and Avera Health jointly announced that Avera will lease the operations of the Rock Rapids community hospital and clinics beginning in May, 2019, when the current lease with Sanford Health expires.
Avera and the hospital association are planning a new hospital and clinic to be built in southwest Rock Rapids. The plan is for the new building to be available by the time Avera takes over. The facility is estimated to cost about $28 million. The USDA low-interest loan that has been applied for is for $17.75 million.
Jim Vander Woude of Rock Rapids, president of the hospital association’s nine-member board of trustees, says the situation is that the contractor needs to know soon whether workers can start building the facility in August. However, Vander Woude says they’ll be lucky to know by then whether they will receive the loan or not.
At a recent meeting of the hospital association, Vander Woude asked the members if they thought construction should begin with the funds on hand. He tells us what the USDA had to say about that.
Vander Woude says that those at the meeting were overwhelmingly supportive of the plan to start construction with funds on-hand while they wait for the decision from the USDA. He says The Merrill Pioneer Community Hospital Association Board of Trustees will decide soon. He says they have set a somewhat fluid date of July 25th as a deadline to make the final decision. Meanwhile, he says they are lining up interim financing.
Meanwhile, he says that the association wants to get started soon on fundraising for the facility.
He says if all goes well, they hope to open the facility in February 2019.
