By Scott Fitzgerald
FAIRVIEW — If you don’t succeed at first — try, try and try again.
The common sense phrase certainly speaks for the Fairview community that dusted off plans sitting on the shelves for three years in regards to a major expansion at Fairview Municipal Hospital, 523 E. State Road.
On Sept. 30, city and hospital officials broke ground for a $4.2 million renovation that includes the addition of 12,000 square feet to improve the hospital’s medical surgical wing, emergency room and imaging department.
“In March or April of last year (2005), I went to the board and recommended that we take the project off the shelf and go through with it. We went out for bids for a general contractor on June 1,” said hospital administrator David Abercrombie.
The action ended a state of suspension the community found itself in after announcing in 2003 the passage of a sales tax referendum designed to raise $2.4 million over a 20-year period that would have Fairview Hospital undergoing a complete makeover with some building expansions.
The project fell short, however when bids arrived and were approximately 40 percent higher than projected.
More money to the tune of $1.5 million from a federal loan guaranteed through Farmers and Merchants and Fairview Savings and Loan banks was added to sales tax and projected hospital revenues to complete the project.
Also, some cutbacks were approved by the hospital board, such as new furniture and some hospital beds.
As of this date, however, the project being done in phases is well under way with some phases already complete, such as a new imaging wing that opened last month.
“We have as strong a radiology department as you will find in a rural hospital,” Abercrombie said.
The project also includes enhanced obstetrics, a larger emergency department, medical and surgical unit, new administrative offices, a drop-off entry and waiting space and new medical offices.
The renovation is expected to be completed by March 2007, Abercrombie said.
Fairview Hospital will also have a new parking lot, new lighting and landscaping.
The community’s commitment to adequate family health services has already provided an shot in the arm in terms of patient care.
From Jan. 1 through March 16, hospital admission records showed that 160 patients seeking clinical and inpatient care who had never come to the Fairview Hospital before. More importantly, about half of them were from Fairview and surrounding communities.
“Our volume has shot up. We’re getting busier and busier,” Abercrombie said.
