By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The pieces continue to fall into place for the construction of a new hospital in Ellinwood. The hospital received a $25 million loan from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), but still needed to raise $1.25 million locally via a capital campaign to show community support for the new building. Ellinwood Hospital Foundation Director Kristy Rupe said the $1.25 million has been raised, and now the goal is to reach another million.
"Bill Sanford is a former graduate from Ellinwood and the founder of STERIS medical equipment," she said. "He has since approached us and said he will contribute $500,000 towards the campaign in dollar-for-dollar matching funds. Right now, we're just pushing really hard to try and raise as much as we can toward that $500,000 goal in hopes it turns into a match, so it'd be a total of $1,000,000."
Sanford graduated from EHS in 1961, and now lives in Florida. The Sanford family will match every confirmed donation made to the capital campaign, up to the $500,000, between Dec. 10, 2022, and Jan. 31, 2023.
"Although I only lived in Ellinwood for a few years in junior and high school, I have always considered this wonderful community as ‘home’ when asked," Sanford said in a release. "My entire business life has been devoted to improving health care for everyone. Smaller communities, especially in middle America, have significant challenges in providing high-quality health services locally. The new Ellinwood Hospital and Clinic will enable residents in Ellinwood and surrounding communities to have access to modern facilities and, even more importantly, local doctors, nurses, and other health services professionals. My family and I are pleased and humbled to be involved with the Foundation and entire community in this critically important funding effort.”
Beyond that, no groundbreaking date has yet been determined as McCown Gordon Construction continues solidifying sub-contract work for the $32 million project. Those bids will need to be turned into a Guaranteed Maximum Price contract to be submitted to the USDA for approval.
"We knew it was part of the process," Rupe said. "It's not like it's anything unusual or a blip on the radar."
Construction on the new hospital is expected to take 18-24 months once it begins, so no decisions have been made on the existing hospital at this time.
"I know for a fact the board of trustees isn't going to do anything that would turn it into an eyesore," Rupe said. "I know they're going to do what's best for the community. They have the community's best interest at hand when making decisions about that, whenever that time comes."
Ellinwood Hospital purchased 15 acres along U.S. 56 Highway, and the new facility is expected to take up 10 of those acres.