Geary Community Hospital Trustees have voted in favor of a resolution to meet with the county commission and assist in any way possible on discussion of options for finding a way to take care of maintenance needs in the hospital building. Earlier this week county leaders received a report showing more than $27 million would be needed to meet all the maintenance and repair requirements.
Theresa Bramlage, Hospital Board Chair, confirmed the Trustees plan to move forward and will do everything possible to keep the hospital functioning. Options that might have to be considered could potentially include a bond issue. "We also are working on some collaborations and will have more conversations about that. There's a lot in the works right now, and so a lot more discussion." GCH leaders have been working for some time on a partnership for operating the hospital.
The information about the maintenance needs came as a surprise. Bramlage said it as shocking. "We spent over a million dollars in repairs and a lot of that was emergency type repairs, putting out fires if you will. To see this price tag it's huge, but it's years of not doing and that's the sad thing."