An architect's rendering shows an exterior view of what would be the newly constructed surgery center at Grundy County Memorial Hospital in Grundy Center. The dedicated entrance will provide much-needed space for the growing number of surgery patients at GCMH to arrive and check-in and will add to the visibility of the hospital from Highway 175. – Image courtesy of Grundy County Memorial Hospital

One of the area’s most critical health care resources is poised to undergo a major renovation project in the coming year that would modernize their facility and improve access for patients.

Following a strategic plan developed through 2018 and 2019, the Grundy County Memorial Hospital (GCMH) is preparing to move forward on a $29.4 million renovation project as part of the hospital’s Master Facility Plan.

The focus of the renovation project will be to add a new surgery center, improve the radiology and imaging department facilities and expand the space available for labs.

The current surgery center at GCMH is located in the oldest part of the building that was constructed in the 1950s. Although the surgery center has undergone multiple renovations over the years, much of the underlying infrastructure such as the electrical system and heating and cooling system within that portion of the hospital is several decades old and in need of replacement.

The current capital project would move the surgery center from one operating room up to two and right-size the remaining space to fit the needs of the modern surgery equipment GCMH now uses.

Grundy County Memorial Hospital Administrator Adam Scherling

“The space is not sized appropriately for today’s technology and equipment as well as for the number of people that need to utilize the space,” GCMH Administrator Adam Scherling said. “When we completed our master facility plan process, which kind of looks at the gaps of our entire campus, surgery really stood out as an area where we’ve seen significant growth over the last five years. But it’s also an area where we have a lot of limitations.”

At GCMH, patients are able to have surgical procedures such as joint repair and replacement, colonoscopies and endoscopies, cataract treatment and gall bladder surgery done locally by visiting surgeons from within the UnityPoint health system.

Scherling said feedback from the GCMH Board of Commissioners was that they wanted to ensure the hospital could continue to build upon the reputation it’s garnered over the past decade around its surgery services.

“I think they recognize that the communities that we serve enjoy having that convenience and experience of local outpatient surgeries,” Scherling said.

Not only will the capital project address the needs inside the surgery center but it will also provide surgery patients with a dedicated entrance and waiting area. Currently, surgery patients utilize the same entrance and lobby space as physician clinics, radiology and therapy services.

As part of the 2022-23 capital improvement project, the GCMH MRI facilities will transition from a mobile unit (pictured) that requires patients to walk outside to a dedicated space inside the hospital that will allow for a more spacious and comfortable environment. -- Sun Courier file photo

The new surgery center will be constructed in a vacant parcel of land within the GCMH campus that used to house the hospital’s long term care unit.

Radiology services will also be impacted by the proposed capital project. Scherling said the hospital has seen significant growth over the past several years in the number of MRI exams they are conducting.

Exam volume has nearly quadrupled in the past nine years at GCMH, going from 216 patient exams in 2013 to nearly 800 in the current fiscal year.

Currently GCMH utilizes a mobile MRI facility that requires patients to exit the building and walk about 50 yards around the building to access.

The capital project would make room for the MRI facility inside the hospital along with the CT scanner that is scheduled for replacement in the coming year.

A view of the current lobby space at GCMH that is shared by patients visiting the physician clinics, radiology, surgery and therapy services. As part of the new capital project, the surgery center will be relocated and given its own dedicated entrance and waiting area. -- Sun Courier file photo

A mobile dock will be constructed as part of the project to allow for additional services like PET scans and nuclear medicine to be offered in the future.

“We’re really looking to wow people when they come into our radiology department,” Scherling said. “MRI exams are not always the most pleasant experience being in that tight space for an extended period of time. But it’s pretty amazing what design can do for dedicated MRI spaces.”

The GCMH lab area is the third section of the hospital to be addressed in the upcoming project.

Right now the GCMH lab has one open space to conduct blood draws from patients. Up to three patients can be seen in the blood draw area at one time with only curtains available for privacy.

In the new lab area, patients will be able to use separate blood draw rooms that offer greater privacy and staff will have more square footage to accommodate an increased number of lab analyzers that were acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grundy County Memorial Hospital (Grundy Center)

Funding and timeline

The $29.4 million renovation project at GCMH is proposed to be funded through the USDA Rural Development Agency and will not rely upon any general obligation bonds through the county as it has for some previous renovation projects.

Currently, GCMH is carrying around $10 million in outstanding debt that is due to the county for prior general obligation bonds that were taken out to finance earlier capital improvement projects.

The financing plan for the 2022-23 capital project would pay off the outstanding debt to the county with around $8 million getting paid from cash on-hand and the remaining $2 million getting refinanced into the USDA loans.

“We’re very fortunate that the hospital’s balance sheet is in the state that it is,” Scherling said. “Not many hospitals have the luxury to contribute the level of cash that we’re looking to contribute. And even then we’re doing so at a conservative level in terms of how much cash on-hand will remain after the contribution.”

GCMH officials received word this week that their funding application through the USDA Rural Development Agency had been approved which clears the way for the capital project to begin moving forward.

The plan would be to send the project out to bid in April with hopes of awarding the construction contract in May.

Construction would look to begin in June of 2022.

Grundy County Memorial Hospital, located in Grundy Center, is recognized as one of the top critical access hospitals in the nation providing essential health care services to rural communities in and around Grundy County.

A majority of GCMH patients come from within a 35-mile radius around Grundy Center and include the communities of Reinbeck and Gladbrook.

During the most recent fiscal year, the hospital exceeded 50,000 outpatient visits for the first time in its history that dates back to 1952.