White Community Hospital and Nursing Home has provided quality care for community members of Aurora, Minn. for over 50 years. To strengthen and stabilize its healthcare services, White Hospital joined Essentia Health in 2010. Funds provided by USDA Rural Development will help combine Essentia Health’s Aurora Clinic with the White Community Hospital and Nursing Home facilities to offer a wide variety of services all in one convenient location known as Essentia Health – Northern Pines.
Rural Development funding for the expansion includes a guaranteed community facilities loan through Agstar Rural Capital Network and a community facilities direct loan.
“We are very pleased and appreciative of the funding provided by Rural Development, which made it much easier to go forward with this project,” said Laura Ackman of Essentia Health – Northern Pines. “This funding also ensures our success, because the interest rates are low and easy to manage.”
The current facility houses a 16-bed critical access center with an attached 55-bed nursing home. Included in the 13,000-square-foot expansion project is a new laboratory, radiology suite, lobby, and registration area. The new Essentia Health – Northern Pines facility is also able to consolidate some of its departments and enhance economic efficiency.
According to Ackman, “By consolidating some of our smaller departments and implementing new ones, we can provide everything a patient needs in one facility, while also reducing costs,” Ackman also said that the staff of 150 presently employed will be cross-trained in all programs offered.
For more information on the project, visit www.whitech.org. To learn how USDA’s Community Facilities program can assist your community in improving its health care system, click here.