Castle Rock breaks ground

Construction began on a new clinical facility for Castle Rock Medical Center with a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning.

According to Bob Gordon, the chairman of the hospital district’s board of trustees, the current facility is showing its age and was built when the medical business differed from what it has become. Originally, the medical center was designed to allow medical providers to rent office space from the hospital district and provide services from those offices. However, Gordon said the business has shifted and that original plan doesn’t reflect how the business has evolved.

“Doctors don’t want to be businessmen, they want to practice medicine,” he said.

Gordon said the clinic is showing signs of its age, which has resulted in the board spending more money to maintain the facility.

According to Bailie Dockter, Castle Rock Hospital District CEO, the new clinic will be built in front of the existing clinic and will feature space designed to keep doctors close with their support staffs. Construction is expected to conclude next year.

The building will be built through a 40-year, $10 million United States Department of Agriculture loan. Gordon said the USDA seeks to maintain access to medical care in rural areas and said the interest on the loan will be very low, though an exact percentage was unavailable at press time. Gordon said the board plans to pay the loan as quickly as possible.

Dockter said the loan will not impact the costs for services provided by the hospital district, saying the district is working to be more competitive with the prices seen in Salt Lake City. She also said patients should expect to see lower prices for some services, such as radiology and lab work.

“In no way will this debt affect our fees,” she said.

Speaking during the ceremony, Green River Mayor Pete Rust said one of the issues impacting the trona mines is a difficulty in recruiting and retaining employees because of a perceived lack of services that impact the area’s quality of life.

“This is a huge, huge home run for us,” Rust said. “There’s hardly a community that doesn’t believe that healthcare (is) a quality of life issue.”