Hospital Event Raises $300,000+
New Facility Is Goal
By Ryan Schlehuber

David Goldthorpe, a member of the Mackinac Straits Healthcare Systems committee, fills in part of the thermometer on a billboard on US-2 in St. Ignace Thursday, July 19. The thermometer indicates how much has been raised so far for Mackinac Straits Hospital and Health Care's new facility, which will be called the Straits Area Healthcare Village. Hospital supporters have raised more than $300,000. The target is to raise $3 million locally for the $27.2 million project, which will also be supported by federal and state funding.

More than $300,000 was raised during a reception at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island Sunday, July 1, the first of many fundraisers planned to raise $3 million toward construction of what is now being called the new Straits Area Healthcare Village in St. Ignace.

The inaugural fundraiser, sponsored by Mackinac Straits Healthcare Systems committee, was attended by more than 200 people.

"It was a wonderful evening with a great cross-section of people," said Margaret Doud, mayor of Mackinac Island and co-chair of the committee with retired Senator Walt North of St. Ignace.

Jim North, president of First National Bank of St. Ignace, who heads the hospital's fundraising committee with Grand Hotel President R. Daniel Musser III, said those attending "agreed that this project is well planned and vital to the future of quality healthcare in the Straits area. We exceeded our own expectations with the results of the kick-off event."

The new hospital, to be constructed on North State Street near the Mackinac County Airport, will replace the existing Mackinac Straits Hospital and Healthcare facility on the corner of Hombach and Burdette streets. Growth in demand for services, coupled with current hospital regulations and building codes, are fueling the drive for a new facility.

The facility will include space for a tribal health center for members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, an emergency department, inpatient and retail pharmacy, radiology, aqua therapy, and outpatient surgery. It will also offer expanded areas for chemotherapy and infusion, a sixchair renal dialysis unit, and space to offer radiation therapy in the future.

More than 89% of the funding for the $27.2 million facility has been secured through a combination of grants and loans for $23 million, as recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture. The tribe gave $1.2 million in land for the facility, and $3 million needs to be raised locally.

Rod Nelson, the hospital's CEO, hopes financing will be completed by September. Grading the land is expected to begin this fall. Some clearing began last winter.

Once financing is complete, designs for the new facility will be completed, reviewed, and approved by the state.

A billboard displaying a thermometer to measure the amount of money raised for the new facility has been erected at US-2 and First Street in St. Ignace.