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STATE OF THE HOSPITAL: A weekly update from David H. Seagraves, President and CEO of Sumter Regional Hospital

Posted August 30, 2007
In just a few days, Americus will mark the six-month anniversary of the devastating tornado that ripped through our community and destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital. The months since the tornado have been fraught with many challenges and a great deal of uncertainty, but a lot of hard work on the part of many folks is paying off.

This past Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officially notified us that it plans to provide financial assistance allowed under federal law to support rebuilding the new permanent hospital – 75 percent of the amount not covered by our property insurance. Coming on the heels of CHUBB's commitment to pay us policy limits of $89.6 million toward our rebuilding efforts, that is good news indeed.

Now we can move forward with confidence to demolish the old structures and begin the architectural and design work for a new, state-of-the-art hospital for Americus-Sumter County and the Middle Flint Region.

Over the next 45-60 days, we will have to go through an asbestos-removal process in the ‘53 portion of the old hospital and then begin the demolition process. At the same time, we will continue our work on architectural and construction plans for the new hospital, with a goal of beginning construction in 2008. Our plans are to be ready to open the doors of our new hospital facility in the Summer of 2010.

Based on some feedback I've heard from the community, one point probably needs to be clarified. While we plan to build a brand new hospital, we're going to evaluate whether we could salvage any portion of the newest portion of the building - the so-called ‘99 Building – and use it for administrative space. But the new hospital – where medical care is provided – will indeed be entirely new.

Even with the CHUBB and FEMA commitments, we know we are going to face a funding gap of approximately $12 million. To fill that gap, the Sumter Regional Foundation is undertaking an unprecedented fundraising effort. We have already been the beneficiaries of largely unsolicited donations – from local individuals, philanthropic foundations, businesses, and other hospitals – totaling nearly $1 million. That's a good start.

To raise the remainder is going to take a great deal of work, and – as I mentioned last week – I am very pleased that we have been able to identify and recruit a local community member with tremendous experience in dealing with exactly these kinds of challenges. Brenda McMillan has agreed to assist in our efforts. Brenda's impressive background includes a previous position as the vice president of member and public relations for Sumter EMC, and the manager of two capital fundraising campaigns for education-based entities. Brenda is already hard at work with our Foundation staff and other SRH managers putting together a plan to take our story to philanthropic foundations, individual donors and government agencies that might be in a position to assist us.

Again, these last six months have been challenging on many levels but I am extremely pleased and encouraged that we are now making significant progress on many fronts. I hope you share in that feeling.

Most of the pre-fabricated materials that will form the structure for the temporary hospital have arrived from Italy (the last shipment made it to port in Houston just ahead of Hurricane Dean) and erection of that facility is now progressing quickly. We expect to open in late November.

Finally, we are planning an upcoming Town Hall Meeting where members of the SRH staff and I can offer updates on the progress of SRH's construction and fundraising efforts. Look for news about this meeting, tentatively planned for late September or early October, in this column space within the next few weeks.

“State of the Hospital” is a weekly column that provides vital information and updates regarding Sumter Regional Hospital. Check this space every Wednesday for the latest news from David H. Seagraves, President and CEO of SRH.

US Patent Numbers 7,720,998 B2, 7,836,207