FREDERICK – After being closed for about eight years, a rural Oklahoma hospital is set to reopen its doors here.
'This is the first time in 50 years that a hospital has been rebuilt after closure, except for one instance in Kansas following a tornado,' Oklahoma State Rep. Trey Caldwell (R-Lawton) said in a prepared statement. 'This is a turning point for rural Oklahoma, and I hope it shows other communities that a lot of good can happen when people work together.'
Due to stipulations regarding Medicare and Medicaid, which impacted many rural hospitals across the nation, Memorial Hospital and Physician Group in Frederick discontinued patient care and ER services in 2016, forcing area residents to travel up to an hour to receive hospital-level care.
“In 2020, the Hospital Association took on State Question 802, which was the expansion of Medicaid,” said Brent Smith, CEO of Comanche County Hospital. “Without that passing, this project would be hard financially to sustain long-term.”
He also said the Medicaid expansion will provide the reimbursement on an ongoing basis.
Oklahoma’s SQ 802 expanded Medicaid eligibility to adults between 18 and 65 whose income is 133% of the federal poverty level or below, which effectively expanded Medicaid to those with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level under the Affordable Care Act. With 50.49% of voters voting yes, the measure passed in June 2020.
The “catalyst” working to reopen the hospital since he was a candidate in 2018, Caldwell, wrote in a prepared state-ment, “I knew bringing a hospital back to this area was a top priority of mine. Southwest Oklahoma has voiced how important this is, and I've done everything in my power to make it happen. Now, six years later, we're closer than ever to returning a hospital to Tillman County, and I couldn't be more proud.'
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Caldwell said he believes he has kept that promise, saying he had been in more than 300 meetings, more than 2,000 phone calls in six countries on three continents.
Six million dollars in federal funding was secured through Congressman Tom Cole (R-04), who attended the groundbreaking and check presentation.
“At the end of the day, this (hospital reopening) came together because people here in Frederick wanted it to come together,” said Cole, who serves as Chair of the Appropriations Committee. “I don’t know if you know how remarkable this is. How often do you lose a hospital in rural America and get one back? It almost always works the other way. Once it’s gone it’s gone forever.”
“This is a real rebirth,” he added. “But it happened here because people here, particularly the speaker, never ever stopped believing it could happen, and never stopped working to assemble all the different pieces that had to be brought together to make it happen.”
According to Caldwell’s statement, construction of Memorial Health of Tillman County Critical Access Hospital is supported by funds the Legislature approved through Senate Bill 20XX in 2022. “The measure tasked the Rural Hospital Rebuild grant program with distributing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to medical facilities in disproportionately impacted populations.
“Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) led the charge to implement a transparent application process to distribute ARPA funds to targeted projects across the state,” Caldwell stated.
The Oklahoma Legislature “injected $25 million into rural communities to restore their access to healthcare,” Hilbert said. “Lives are going to be saved thanks to this funding, and I’m particularly thrilled to join him in Frederick for the groundbreaking of the new hospital that spurred this investment across the state.'
Cole secured “about $6 million in direct congressional appropriations, $1.8 million from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce's Public-Private Partnership program, and loans from U.S. Department of Agriculture programs,” the statement said.
“The hospital will have two emergency treatment rooms, five inpatient beds, a laboratory, radiology and space for support services,” Caldwell’s statement said. “The ambulatory clinic will consist of eight exam rooms and one procedure room.”
USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Basil Gooden told attendees that growing up as an asthmatic child on a small beef cattle farm in central Virginia an hour away from the nearest hospital, he understood the need for access to expedient health care.
“As a kid of five or six years old, and you’re having an asthma attack, and the closest hospital is an hour away, you understand the vital importance of having medical care closer to you because you don’t know. I mean, it’s the scariest feeling in the world. So facilities like this, here in Tillman (County) will make a difference and impact the lives of those in this area and surrounding areas as well.”
“We’re excited to be a small partner in the great work that is being done in Tillman (County),” the undersecretary said.
“Projects just like this don’t happen by themselves. It takes intentionality. It takes people getting up in the morning and advocating for the community—advocating for the facility. And that’s essentially what Trey (Caldwell) has done.
That’s what Congressman Cole has done, and the other representatives in the Legislature as well.”
Other dignitaries who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony include former Oklahoma House Speaker Loyd Benson and current Speaker-Designate Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow).
Benson, a Frederick native who served in the House from 1997 to 2001, said Caldwell is the “true catalyst” in getting the hospital reopened.
“If you ever want to see a bulldog on an issue,” Benson said, “you watch Trey Caldwell as he represents his people in his district.”
Echoing Cole, Hilbert said, “This does not happen. Rural hospitals, when they close, they do not reopen. Not in Oklahoma. Not in this region.
Not anywhere.”
Hilbert explained that with federal regulations, many hospitals “are grandfathered in to a lot of things.”
If a hospital built in the 1950s closes, they must reopen under present codes, he said.
“So this (reopening) does not happen. But it’s happening,” he said. “And it’s happening because of all the leaders and tenacious work of so many people.”
Hilbert sent a message to Caldwell to discuss funding the project through “the Rural Hospital Rebuild grant program via American Rescue Plan Act funding to medical facilities in disproportionately impacted populations,” Caldwell’s statement said. When Caldwell and Hilbert visited Frederick, “What we saw here was community buy-in,” Hilbert said.
Hilbert related that, “not only is this happening in Frederick, but this is also happening in five communities in Oklahoma, because of Frederick.”
Hilbert said the same process will reopen hospitals in Eufaula, Sayre, Wilburton and Bristow.
Caldwell concluded with “what this hospital is going to be a symbol of for the next 50 years.”