By Pat Hill
Validation for a vision to bring a hospital to Woodland Park, a
check for $14 million prompted the feel-good ceremony on Friday,
Oct. 14.
Proposed by a group of Teller County residents in 1999, the
hospital project has received a number of grants – but the one on
Friday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural development
fund was the big one.
The funds will be used to construct a new 25-bed primary care
hospital with 24-hour emergency services.
For members of the Pikes Peak Regional Medical Center
Association, the monetary infusion was a day to pay
tribute.
“While everyone saw the need for a hospital there were two
people who saw something else,” said Curt Grina, president of the
association. “Lynn Colip (a physician) and Jerry Bergeman (former
county commissioner) who set about turning that vision into
reality.”
The two men, along with members of the association, succeeded in
bringing the community into the project through fundraisers and
donations.
“We will own the hospital, fulfill our future and manage the
hospital ourselves without any tax dollars,” Grina said to the
large crowd gathered at the hospital site west of Woodland Park.
“Every person shares in the success today.”
In addition to the check from the federal agency, the project
attracted a land donation, a grant of $850,000 from the Energy and
Mineral Assistance fund, more than $100,000 from the Cripple Creek
& Victor Gold Mining Co., $3 million from a capital campaign,
$25,000 from the Pikes Peak Rotary Club and $10,000 from the Gold
Camp Development Corporation.
Ready to receive the check, signified by a large re-creation of
the actual thing, from Agriculture Deputy Allan Johnson and Joe
Hostetler, acting state director of the USDA’s Rural Development,
Grina said, “We are here today to launch the hospital. We are
going!”