MHC Puts New Hospital & Nursing Home Project On Hold For Now
Mahnomen, MN — The new Mahnomen Health Center Hospital and Nursing Home Project is officially on hold. Mahnomen Health CEO Dale Kruger made the announcement following a meeting with the Mahnomen Health Center Board of Directors and their partners in the project, the City of Mahnomen and Mahnomen County. Kruger stated uncertain times, the potential recession, and uncertainty in the healthcare industry as driving factors. After the legislature failed to pass a bonding bill that would have provided $16 million in funding, which at the time was half of the total project, the Mahnomen Health Center was planning to move forward with just building a new nursing home. However, with rising construction costs and staffing shortages, Mahnomen County Administrator CJ Holl says it was in their best interest to hold off on the entire project.
And its not just the Mahnomen Health Center project that will be on hold, it’s system wide throughout the Sanford Health Care system. Holl says they learned that many other large healthcare projects are being cancelled due to the uncertainty in the healthcare industry.
By not moving forward right now, the Mahnomen Health Center will lose out on $200,000 in annual funds that they had applied for from the Minnesota Department of Health Nursing Home Moratorium. They would have had to broke ground by Spring of 2023 to get the funding, however they can still reapply for the funding in the future.
Holl adds that the good news is if conditions improve and prices come down, they still have all the planning done to move forward quickly.
Holl says that they will make investments into the current Mahnomen Health Center facility, which was built in 1957, if needed to better serve the community for the time being.
In his announcement Thursday morning, Kruger closed his statement by noting that “Mahnomen Health is not a building, it is healthcare – people caring for people. We will continue to serve our community in the same great manner.”