Silverton Will Keep Hospital Some Question Need For Two Facilities In Silver Valley

The Silver Valley will support two hospitals for another year.

Thursday, Silver Valley Medical Center’s board of directors unanimously adopted a $2.2 million budget to enable the newly reopened hospital to carry on.

About 30 people attended a budget hearing preceding the vote, jamming the small board room and spilling into a hallway.

Board Chairman Robin Stanley said the press has exaggerated the hospital’s financial woes.

“When we opened with $400,000 in December, we thought it would take us to February. In February, we knew we could make it to June,” he said.

At the same time, the hospital provided services, created almost 80 jobs and paid back $52,000 of the $100,000 in unemployment insurance owed to the state, he said.

But some people at the meeting questioned the cost of operating a hospital just eight miles down Interstate 90 from Kellogg’s Shoshone Medical Center.

“I strongly feel we need one quality hospital in Shoshone County,” said Susan Bourne, a parent who said she would oppose any budget for a second hospital.

Some called for closer cooperation between the two hospital districts.

“‘My team’s better than your team’ is good on a football field, but that’s where it should cease,” Bruce Luxford told the board.

Others cheered the hospital’s work since its reopening.

“I know for a fact that at least one person is alive who’d be dead today if it weren’t for this hospital,” said former board member Fred Manthey.

“This hospital was a godsend to me. Next, it might be to one of you who needs quick care,” said Phil Lindstrom, who was treated for a heart attack at the facility, then called H.L. Day Hospital, in 1981.

A hand count showed that 15 people at Thursday’s meeting wanted the board to adopt its proposed budget; 14 people opposed it.