Yes! Allen County Healthcare

opinions

October 12, 2010 - 12:00 AM

Q: What is the history of the Allen County Hospital?
A: Prior to the construction of the present Allen County Hospital building in Iola, the citizens of Iola and Allen County were served by St. John’s Hospital about one mile east of Iola in what was called East Lawn. A private hospital connected to the Roman Catholic church, it served the area for many years.
In October 1947, Allen County Hospital was formed and construction bonds were approved by a vote of the citizens of Allen County. The Allen County commissioners appointed the first hospital board of trustees: Earl Sifers, Frank Thompson, Roy Finley, William Cannon and Roy Singer. Ground was broken for the new hospital on June 27, 1950 and the hospital was completed and dedicated on July 27, 1952.
The original hospital was built to house 42 beds and expanded in 1967 to add 22 beds. Various other im-provements were made at that time. The hospital lab was expanded and im-proved in 1975 and Iola Industries added a clinic on the south side of the hospital in 1976.
In 1981 a new hospital was proposed due to growing problems with keeping the building in compliance with codes and in keeping up with the changing practice of medicine. The proposal for a new hospital was voted down by the public.
In 1982, Allen County commissioners leased the hospital to Research Medical, which later became Health Midwest, a not-for-profit hospital company. In 1985 Allen County issued $2 million in hospital revenue bonds and Health Midwest added $1 million to make major renovations. The goal was to bring the hospital up to code, as much as possible, and to improve the facility to better deal with the continuing changes in the practice of medicine.
In 2003, Health Midwest assigned its lease to HCA, a for-profit hospital company. HCA recently renewed the lease for another five years.

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