Hot Springs clinic hosts grand opening
It has been eight years since the Eastern Sanders County Hospital Board recognized the need for a new clinic in Hot Springs. Today at 4 p.m. the new clinic will celebrate their grand opening with a reception and ribbon cutting ceremony. Owing in large part to private donations and a local fundraising effort; the new, modern clinic opened its doors earlier in the week to begin providing care to Hot Springs residents.
A variety of activities and sizable donations from Sanders County residents raised over $250,000 to build a completely new, much larger facility. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes pitched in by ensuring the hospital a 25-year lease at one dollar a year and provided additional land upon which to build.
The massive effort of raising $250,000 started small, gradually gaining enough momentum to accomplish the feat in just over a year. The old building previously housed a restaurant that was damaged by fire and left the dilapidated structure with a crumbling foundation and sagging uneven floors. According to nurse Sarah Cooper, the floor was in especially dire condition.
“The floor was in such poor shape it felt like you were on a roller coaster. We had to set the brakes on the wheelchairs to prevent patients from rolling away. Now we have a real nurses station and a new procedure room and twice the amount of exam rooms,” said Cooper.
The fundraising endeavor took off after the publicity that was generated from the first attempt to raise money.
Nicknamed the “Tired Iron” project, residents of Sanders County and particularly Hot Springs gathered over 32 tons of scrap metal and sent it to Pacific Steel and Recycling in Missoula. The effort only generated a few thousand dollars but more importantly, the “Tired Iron” Project created a lot of attention for the fundraising campaign, even meriting a mention in USA Today.
Residents gathered washing machines, dryers, old wheelchairs; any piece of scrap metal that could be recycled was collected. Sharon Flesch of the fundraising committee estimated that nearly 80 percent of Hot Springs residents participated in the recycling effort. Dorothy Simmons from Paradise helped organize the sister project in that town.
As a result of the publicity generated from the “Tired Iron” Project, word spread rapidly about what was going on in Hot Springs. Donations came in from as far away as Florida. Hot Springs resident Barbara Gonder donated $5,000. Arlee resident and Plains businessman Marvin Rehbein donated $25,000. Then, after thinking it over, he donated another $25,000.
The 2012 Hot Springs High School graduating class added $1,000. Clark Fork Valley Hospital pitched in $25,000. When it looked like the fundraising effort might come up short, Barbara Gonder donated another $50,000.
After a year and a half, the fundraising committee raised $250,000 in conjunction with a community block grant from the state. After all the spaghetti feeds, auctions, private donations and “Tired Iron,” Flesch said the clinic is “debt free.”
“The money raised by this community paid for construction, the parking lot and the architectural fees. We didn’t have to raise taxes. We needed this clinic very badly. It was a community effort,” said Flesch.
The grand opening and ribbon cutting will take place at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at the new clinic. The event will celebrate the hard work and effort of those all over Sanders County who demonstrated to the entire country what one community can achieve when they come together for a common cause.