By THOMAS COSTIGAN

Providence Health Care officials have come up with a number to keep Deer Park Hospital open in its current operating state: 35 million.

Holy Family and Deer Park Hospital President Tom Corley told a group of about 25 area residents at the North Country Action Democratic Committee meeting that it will take $25 million to $35 million to keep Deer Park Hospital in place.

The figure, he said, represents the replacement of the current 50-year-old building with a new structure.

 

Corley said the current building could be remodeled for $6.4 million to $10.4 million but those improvements would only be a band-aid and would not bring the hospital up to national certification levels.

Providence Health Care requires all its hospitals to be nationally certified.

The cost recommendations were part of a year-long study that included input from an area citizens committee that included Mayor Robert Whisman, Spokane County Fire District No. 4 Chief Ed Lewis, School Superintendent Mick Miller and longtime Deer Park businessman Dave Franklin.

Providence Health Center also conducted a random community survey of 400 area residents to get their feeling on the hospital.

“It’s 50-some years old and it’s worn out,” Corley said.

Neither construction option is being embraced by Providence Health Care officials because of the level of use the hospital currently receives from area residents.

On the daily average, the hospital serves less than one acute care patient and approximately 9 swing bed patients, far below the average needed to make the hospital a viable entity.

Among the other statistics released by Corley showed that only 5 percent of the area population used the hospital last year, a drop of more than 4 percent from three years earlier. The figure, he added, appears to be even lower in 2007.

Corley admitted that today’s medical climate is different with more people seeking outpatient care and those who do go to the hospital are staying for a shorter time.

As for outpatient care, Deer Park Hospital has had to compete in a growing local market with Deer Park Family Care Clinic, Urgent Care and the CHAS Clinic.

Some of the people at the meeting championed the need for the hospital’s emergency room, Corley noted that most people in an emergency situation choose to travel to Spokane, either by car or emergency vehicle.

Only 1 percent of emergency room patients are admitted to Deer Park Hospital.

Corley said Providence Health Care is looking at other options for the building, including making it into office space for visiting specialists.

The committee looked at turning the building into a nursing home, hospice care center or other large specialized care facility.

The building is too small to make these a viable option, Corley said.

While Providence Health Care has not made a final decision on the fate of Deer Park Hospital, Corley noted that the group will not abandon Deer Park.
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nland Imaging, another Providence Health Care entity, will begin offering services at the Urgent Care Clinic and has begun offering the Women’s Health Coach to the area on a more frequent basis.

Corley said all Deer Park Hospital employees will be offered jobs in other Providence Health Care facilities if the hospital if forced to close.