Selection process long, thorough

Initially, five sites were reviewed for construction of a new hospital in Purcell.

That list was narrowed to two-based upon project impact-and eventually down to one, located just south of Zeck Ford.

An ad hoc committee comprised of mayor Ted Cox, city councilman Danny Jacobs, city manager Dale Bunn, PMH Board Chairman David Shirley, board member Kyle Nondorf of SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital, PMH CEO/CNO Kem Scully and Darin Miller with Miller Architects have been meeting since 2018 working to determine the site.

 According to architects:

• the existing hospital site did not have enough available land to allow PMH to remain fully operational during the construction of the new hospital.
• the selected site is located north of Chandler Road, which keeps the hospital in the metropolitan Diagnostic Related Group (DRG) which equates to higher reimbursement from Centers for medicare and medicaid services. (Estimated at $1,000,000 annually)
• the property of around 13 acres is more than adequate for the hospital.
• the selected site has the best access from I-35 and the city of Purcell.
• the selected site has the best visibility from I-35 and state Highway 74.
• the selected site is currently within the proposed project budget.
• utilities are readily available in close proximity of the selected site, more so than the other site that made it past the initial review.

The PMH Board of Directors and members of the Purcell City Council have also been receiving information during the site selection process.

“The committee wanted what was best for the community long term,” Cox said.

“The site selection is a critical starting point,” he continued. “We spent a lot of time working on it.”

Cox said both he and vice mayor Jacobs hoped to build the new hospital on land where PMH currently exists.

“The city already owned the property and additional property would not have to have been purchased.

“But we were told it was not feasible without putting great limitations on the current hospital,” Cox said. “And we didn’t want to put any additional burden on the current facility.”