Hospital Working With FEMA on Construction Grants
Posted on Monday, September 16th, 2024
Scott Callender, MBA, CPA
Hospital Administrator
(September 16, 2024) Five months after a powerful tornado struck Mercy Health Love County Hospital, demolition projects have begun, and the path to a new hospital is beginning to take shape.
Hospital Administrator Scott Callender, MBA, CPA, has been working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to line up support. FEMA is charged with providing relief to healthcare organizations via direct reimbursement for expenses and damages stemming from a disaster.
“These are tax-payer dollars that FEMA is spending so we have to understand that following FEMA directives and timelines is our responsibility,” Callender said. “If we want the federal dollars we have to wait for the go-ahead on debris removal, demolition, and reconstruction. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
Hospital insurance funds paid the demolition costs for the first two buildings taken down: EMS Station 1, and the food pantry. The damaged buildings were dismantled down to their foundations September 11-14. The services from those buildings are temporarily located elsewhere. The main hospital building also will be demolished.
The intent is to build a new hospital on the same site and connect to the clinic building. That is because the “rural health” licensure of the clinic, which is intact and operating now, requires it to be connected or within a few feet of a hospital.
Next door to the clinic, the Therapy Building also is operational. On an outpatient basis, anyone may be referred by their medical provider for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
Callender said the desire is for the new hospital to have the same clinical services as before. This would include beds for acute care and skilled nursing stays, as well as a laboratory and radiology services. But the overall building will be smaller because the business and medical recordkeeping offices will be housed in the former Adult Day Center across the street.
After the architectural plans are finished and the replacement costs are computed, the hospital will apply for FEMA’s public assistance program for construction funds.
The hospital may also qualify for hazard mitigation or “build back better” FEMA funds. “This is funding we would apply to construction that makes the exterior of the hospital stronger to better withstand any future tornado,” Callender said.
A temporary emergency room will be constructed first. A site has been identified and marked off in a grassy field between the hospital parking lot and Legacy Park Lane.
Final approvals of the hospital site and the temporary emergency room site are pending an archeological survey. FEMA has invited the State Historical Society and Indian Tribes to examine their records of the grounds for the presence of any artifacts to be preserved.
A FEMA manager is working directly with the hospital to develop the scope of work and costs on all planned construction. “I am anxiously awaiting that day he calls and tells me to go ahead and build,” Callender said.
Here are key current telephone numbers for Mercy Health Love County:
Mecial Clinic: (580) 276-2400
Hospital Medical Records or Bill Payment: (580) 276-3347
Therapy Building: (580) 300-3226