Future uncertain for St. Regis clinic

ST. REGIS – An ill-fated venture in St. Regis may be settled in court after the dissolution of the medical clinic in the community earlier this year.

For almost two years, St. Regis residents enjoyed the benefit of having their own medical clinic. Instead of having to drive to Superior to use the Mineral Community Hospital or another facility that would have required significant travel, residents were able to utilize the Jack Lincoln Memorial Clinic located on Highway 135.

Due to lack of usage however, the clinic was closed in early 2014. While details of what may happen to the building, the property and certain entities involved in the creation of the clinic have not been released because of potential pending litigation, what is known is St. Regis will be without their own clinic for the foreseeable future.

MCH and clinic board member John Woodland said he was not able to release details about the future at this time. He did say the clinic was closed because it was just simply not financially viable to keep the doors open any longer.

“We looked at it several times to see if there was any way we could keep it open,” Woodland said. “We were just dealing with a negative cash flow. We had to close it and we are just not in a position to reopen it.”

The matter of the clinic was briefly discussed at the last MCH board meeting but again, details about the future were not discussed. Woodland said there would be continuing talks about the facility in the coming weeks. He did say the potential legal actions come as a result of the facility no longer functioning as it was intended.

“The clinic was built on land we don’t own,” Woodland said. “The lease contained in it a provision that indicated we had to operate it as a clinic and we aren’t doing that so the landlord is taking that to mean we are in default. We are trying to reach an amicable solution.”

The clinic was opened in February 2012. The construction of the clinic was made possible by financial support from Blackfoot Telecommunications through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development via a zero-interest loan as well as from the Human Resource Council and the St. Regis Resort District.

The land the clinic was built on was donated by Grant Lincoln and named after his father Jack. Lincoln cut the ribbon during the ceremony to open the clinic on Feb. 27, 2012. Patients requiring care locally have had to travel to Superior to MCH ever since the facility in St. Regis closed its doors.

Woodland said it wasn’t exactly known why the clinic wasn’t able to draw enough traffic to remain financially sound. He speculated it may have been the small population in the area meaning there weren’t enough patients to support the facility.

“It wasn’t getting enough utilization,” Woodland said. “I don’t mean that St. Regis wasn’t supporting it. It just wasn’t getting used enough to make financial sense.”