(Riverton, WY) – The Riverton Medical District (RMD) community meeting drew a crowd of over 75 community members last night, May 31. In addition to hearing from RMD board members, Corte McGuffey and Vivian Watkins, representatives from both the Billings Clinic and the Wyoming USDA Office addressed attendees.
Last night’s updates followed the April 11 news that RMD secured the $37M low-interest USDA Community Facilities loan to build the hospital. The big question – what’s next?
Watkins was first to speak and shared a key takeaway – “The USDA does not loan you $37 million without having looked at this project inside, outside, upside, downside. They’ve looked at this hospital project over and over and over.”
USDA Wyoming Community Programs Director Lorraine Werner and USDA Wyoming State Director Glenn Pauley were the first two guest speakers. They reflected on the process.
Werner echoed Watkins’s sentiments about the government’s thoroughness when it comes to loaning money.
“Borrowing money from the government is not an easy task, and in some cases, it’s downright hard.”
Updates came from Billings Clinic Chief Medical Officer Clint Seger, MD, and Billings Clinic Vice President of Regional Operations Nicole Hobbs.
There’s a lot of work to not only get a hospital built but also operational on day one, Hobbs said.
Since the Billings Clinic affiliation intent was announced just over a year ago, the management affiliation agreement has been finalized. Now they are looking at what the hospital will look like on day one – nurses, physicians, registration staff, policies and procedures, building and implementation of an electronic health records system, and making sure they meet all of the regulatory requirements.
Billings Clinic Vice President of Facility Services Mitch Goplen provided an update on the roughly 60,000 square foot facility that is expected to 18-months to build.
“You have my commitment that we’re going to build a world-class facility here that allows employees to provide the best patient care they can provide, without having the facility be a burden to them.”
They are currently in the concept planning and the adjacencies to understand how all the patients and employees are going to flow and move throughout the facility. In the coming months, they plan to hire a construction manager at risk and at the same time will be working with the USDA for design approval, which has to happen before moving forward.
McGuffey wrapped up the evening’s meeting by saying the groundbreaking will happen as soon as possible.
“And believe me when it happens, everybody’s gonna know about it because we’re going to have a big party and everybody’s going to be invited to the party.”
He continued by saying they plan to apply for grants in the coming months; they are also collecting pledges. Governance documents are being organized since this will be locally owned and locally governed. They are also working on developing a foundation that will be the fundraising arm of the hospital.
The meeting was live-streamed and can be watched below.
To read all of County 10’s coverage of the Riverton Medical District, click here.