Funds returned to MCH

SUPERIOR - The Mineral Community Hospital is at it again, this time receiving a return of funds from a company the hospital has a working relationship with.

Charles Ervin from Dougherty and Company, recently returned $2,500 from a fee that was supposed to go to a once planned hospital project that never panned out.

“The company was doing a feasibility study on a potential project that didn’t materialize,” said Roger Brown, chairperson of the Mineral County Medical Foundation, Inc. “They decided in a charitable sense to give the money to our philanthropic organization, the hospital foundation.”

The original fee for the hospital was $5,000, but only half was returned because Dougherty and Company did have some expenses for financing the project, said Larry Putnam, interim CEO for the Mineral Community Hospital.

“When Ervin donated the money back to us, he really wanted it to go to the hospital foundation,” Putnam said.

Ervin, an investment banker who lives in Bozeman, Mont., works with a lot of small hospitals on funding issues, Putnam said.

“Charles called me a while ago and I was trying to get the full $5,000 back from him,” Putnam joked.

At this time, there are no potential uses targeted for the donation, but the decision will ultimately be up to the hospital board as to what to do with the money in the future.

The hospital board will hear a variety of funding issues and possible solutions when they hold their monthly meeting April 24. In recent years, the hospital has needed to make staff cutbacks, or reallocate money to different areas of the hospital with the most need.

The hospital has also severed ties with the now Mineral Regional Health Center, which was once part of the community hospital, but is now completely under a separate structure.

The MCH and board will also make a decision on whether to sell a house that is situated on the property, which could save some additional revenue. MCH has already set forth in getting the house appraised, the final approval will need to come from the board.

The medical center has been struggling after a slow winter season, according to Putnam.

Some of the cash flow dipped as hospital foot traffic slowed due to the cold weather, limiting some patients from acquiring services.

“The board is nonprofit, we raise money from the community, in the community for the hospital,” Brown said. “This also happens to be the 40th year of the hospital foundation. We have no paid employees, it’s all volunteer work.”

Brown estimates that over the years he thinks the board has raised somewhere around $250,000.

“It goes directly toward the hospital, clinic or both, we don’t come under the administrative direction of the hospital because we are a nonprofit, but we do cooperate with the hospital,” Brown said.

Brown appreciates the Mineral County Community for all the support over the years.

“The number one thing that constantly impresses us in this community is that the amount of money that is raised at our fundraisers,” Brown said. “This community really gets together, it’s a cohesive community. These funds don’t leave this county.”