Hospital closing brings Ivanhoe full circle
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The 40-year-old building on the edge of Ivanhoe is known formally as Divine Providence Health Center Avera. But for people like Sharon Steffes it's simply, 'the hospital.' Now retired, she worked here for 37 years.
"This was my home. My face was usually around here somewhere," says Steffes. "My husband used to laugh that on my days off it just killed me because I wanted to know what was going on up here."
She's still that way. Sitting in the lobby, she's quick to help someone looking for assistance.
"Just ring that bell, ma'am," says Steffes.
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Steffes leads the way on a tour of the hospital. Walking down the long hallway Steffes meets memory after memory.
"This was actually the delivery room where my grandchildren were born," Steffes says.
The hospital opened in 1967. Steffes says people were so proud of the building they cried at the dedication ceremony.
The entire community pitched in to raise money to build Divine Providence. People went door to door for contributions. They held fund raising dinners. They even gleaned missed ears of corn from area farmfields to sell at the local elevator. That community spirit carried over to the way the hospital operated.
"You don't get paid enough to do the things that health care administrators do."
"You're not a number, you're a person and you're treated as such," says Steffes. "You're treated as somebody very important."
The hometown service though couldn't stand up to the economic realities of modern medicine. The hospital has been losing money for almost a decade. The number of patients has steadily dropped. Last year was a financial fiasco, the hospital lost more than $800,000.
Much of the hospital's revenue comes from complex government programs like Medicare. It takes a lot of energy and time to keep up with the rules and regulations. When changes are made, they show up immediately on the hospital's balance sheet.
Last year alone, changes in one form of Medicare reimbursement cost Divine Providence $300,000. Hospital CEO Greg Wilson says he won't miss the mind numbing paper work.
"You don't get paid enough to do the things that health care administrators do and CFO's do," says Wilson. "I would be more than happy to get out of the industry."
Wilson will do just that. When he leaves Ivanhoe he plans to go to graduate school and look for a new career.
The people of Ivanhoe will have several area hospitals to choose from, including one in Marshall about 25 miles away.
Walking through the hospital, Sharon Steffes sees a lot of beginnings and ends. On one wall hangs a picture of the first hospital administrator. Nearby is a chapel. It's stained glass entry-way reflects what little light seeps in from the quiet late winter afternoon.
"Yea, I went to a lot of funerals in here," says Steffes.
The end of the hospital will mean 38 lost jobs. That's more than a million dollars in payroll for the small farming town. Steffes says the news has cast a pall over the building.
"I could cry," says Steffes. "I can walk into any department here and I know the people personally. And I look at their faces. The downcast eyes, the very quiet voices. It's like somebody died."
The long hallways form a circle around the medical center. The corridors pass through the hospital, but also a nursing home, clinic and independent living apartments. The other units will stay open after the hospital shuts down.
The closure is another disappointment for the people of this small farm town who've already seen many businesses close. The region's population has been declining ever since the hospital opened. The town once without a hospital will return to that era as a circle of history closes.
