(Riverton, WY) – A few dozen community members braved the chilly rain and attended the Riverton Medical District (RMD) community meeting at Riverton Middle School last night, October 19th. Updates were provided by two members of the RMD team, Corte McGuffey and Vivian Watkins.
Two main updates from last night’s meeting included funding and the potential new design of the hospital.
Vivian shared their loan application for $37M through the USDA Community Facilities Program is currently under review at the regional level with the third and final review at the national level being the next and last step.
The loan application took over a year to complete with the help of the USDA office in Casper and was officially submitted in late July 2021 – it is also the largest dollar amount ever requested through the USDA in the State of Wyoming.
With the one-year mark of the pledge drive quickly approaching, Vivian noted they are still very appreciative to those who pledged money and they will let you know as soon as they are ready to collect.
A new hospital rendering by Mitch Goplen, Billings Clinic’s vice president of facility services, was revealed last night for this 60,000+ square foot facility that will sit on a 12-acre campus at the Eastern Shoshone Business Park, located just north of Walmart.
The updated design is not finalized, so things can still and will likely change, Corte noted. The new design has turned it into a two-story building, with space for 14 beds (a little smaller than originally planned), an attached ambulance garage, a separate emergency room entrance, a pharmacy/lab, cafeteria, ample office space, an OB area, 2 surgical suites along with a procedure room, and more.
The new design has adaptability factored in for future growth so things like additional beds can be added down the road.
You can view the full meeting along with the new design in the Facebook live video shared below.
To read all of County 10’s coverage of the Riverton Medical District, click here.