Although the doors opened for the first time to patients on Monday, March 2nd, 2015 the official grand opening and ribbon cutting at the T.H. Reiarson Clinic at Mountrail County Health Center was held on Sunday, March 29th, 2015.
Sunday’s ceremony started with a welcome from Derald Hoover, president of the Stanley Community Hospital Board, followed by a prayer of dedication from Pastor Rory Philstrom of the Prairie Lutheran Parish.
Hoover talked about the many people they needed to thank and introduce as they opened this new space, including representatives from the City of Stanley, their general contractor ICS and the subcontractors, and the employees who have worked so hard as part of this renovation process. He also welcomed the members of the MCMC Board, Bethel Home Board, Stanley Community Hospital Board and the Mountrail County Health Foundation. All have been an integral part of the fundraising for the three phases of construction at MCMC. When they started the fund drive, they had a goal of $6.5 million with being told they could realistically expect to raise about one-third of that amount. To date, they have raised $5.255 million of the goal.
The Stanley Community Hospital Board oversees the T.H. Reiarson Trust, which left funds to three individuals and five organizations including the SCH. Paraphrasing T.H. Reiarson’s will, Hoover said that the money was left with the trustees caused to erect a new medical clinic if deemed necessary. The will was written in 1977 and it took 38 years to build and dedicate this new clinic, but they came today to celebrate the fruition of his wishes with $2.195 million from the trust dedicated to the management of assets for future improvements, equipment and this new clinic.
MCHC has seen three phases of construction overall. The first phase of the ER renovation and hospital renovations were complete earlier and the clinic renovation is nearly complete now. The next phase will be construction at Mountrail Bethel Home.
Hoover thanked all of the donors that have made these three projects complete. Donor recognition walls are in place in the completed phases to recognize those generous contributions, including a donor wall inside the new clinic.
Dr. Mark Longmuir spoke next and paraphrased a poem from Mother Teresa encouraging people to “Do It Anyways”, a philosophy he says encourages people to remember that no matter what other people think, do it anyway, give anyway. Coming home to practice medicine in Stanley, Longmuir says the original clinic led them to feel they were in their “box” but the community saw the need, stepped up and brought MCMC to where it is today. He thanked everyone for coming and asked them to keep the staff and facility in their prayers and thoughts as they continue throughout the rest of the process.
MCMC CEO/Administrator Mike Hall also thanked everyone for coming and expressed his excitement about the new clinic. He says the additional space will allow the facility to add to outpatient doctor resources and also help as they look to recruit additional providers. The new space will allow them to expand on the quality care they are already offering to patients in Stanley and the surrounding areas.
Attendees were able to take tours of the new clinic spaces as part of the day as well. The new portion of the clinic holds six patient rooms, provider and clinic manager offices, a new nurses station, conference room and more. Remodeling continues in the old clinic space and once that is complete there will be a total of 15 patient rooms available.
– Courtesy of Mountrail County Promoter
Officially breaking the ground for the new T.H. Reiarson Clinic were Abbey Effertz MCHC PA, Sue Weston MCHC CFO, Heath Hetzel, MBH Board Member, George Olson, MBH/MCMC Board President, Ron Dazell, ICS and Dr. Mark Longmuir.With the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Emergency Medicine facility recently behind them, Mountrail County Medical Center is breaking ground for The Clinic Project, an expansion and renovation of the medical clinic. Completion of the project will provide the space needed for new physicians to practice in Stanley.
Lack of exam rooms and office space made it impossible to accommodate additional local practitioners and visiting specialists. Dr. Mark Longmuir says it takes a minimum of 3 exam rooms per practitioner to allow a practice run smoothly. “It’s not only having some place to see the patient, there also needs to be consideration of privacy and efficiency”, said Dr. Longmuir, “the new space will allow us to earnestly pursue additional physicians and practitioners”.
New construction will allow for extensive renovation of the former clinic space, providing for more exam rooms but also more efficient locations for staff to do their testing and procedures. The new clinic will also provide considerably more space in the waiting room and appropriate settings for consulting with patients.
The Clinic Project is expected to be completed in December.
As was the case in the Emergency Medicine project, the costs of The Clinic Project are being offset by the proceeds of the current “Partnering for the Future” Capital Campaign.
The Campaign, which began some eight months ago, has been well supported by county citizens. The work about to begin will include local residents and businesses, regional commercial concerns, energy companies and outside entities with an interest in Mountrail County. Enget explained, “We have intentionally developed the campaign to be able to demonstrate support from those that live here and we can now do that. It’s time to expand our efforts to include other prospective donors”.
Mountrail County Medical Center and Bethel Home Board President George Olson says that work beginning on The Clinic Project is exciting because it means that work on Bethel Home is near-at-hand. According to Olson, “we are anticipating consolidation of the efforts on behalf of the clinic with those that are focused on the Bethel Home and that will mean we can get to work on that part of the project earlier than expected”.
The “Partnering for the Future” Campaign has a goal of $6.25 million and is slated to run through the end of the year.
–Courtesy of Mountrail County Promoter