A Brief History of Southwest Memorial Hospital
Southwest Memorial Hospital is rich in history. Here are some of the highlights from 1914 when the facility first opened to the present.
1914 – 1940
Dr. Emil E. Johnson converted two cottages into a hospital on the site that is
now occupied by the Best Western Turquoise Inn on Main Street in Cortez. Dr.
Johnson’s family lived on the premises where he had an office and an eight bed
hospital. His wife was a nurse and an anesthetist. In 1940, Dr. Johnson had a
stroke and the hospital was closed for about five months.
1940 – 1942
Dr. Girod re-opened the hospital and operated it until he was called to active
duty in January of 1942.
1942 – 1948
Dr. Johnson returned to Cortez and, with the help of the County Commissioners,
kept the hospital open during the war. Dr. Speck, Dr. Calkins and Dr. Lilla
worked in the hospital during the war. In 1945 the citizens of Montezuma and
Dolores Counties recognized that the current facility would not serve the future
needs of the two counties. The Lions Club took on the project of raising money
to build a new hospital. The drive had great community support, and by 1948
enough money had been raised to build a hospital on South Broadway, currently
the Johnson Building. The people in the community were very proud that they were
able to raise the necessary funds to build a hospital without government
support.
1948 – 1950
The new facility, Southwest Memorial Hospital, opened in May 1948 and was
dedicated as a memorial to the veterans of Montezuma and Dolores Counties who
were killed in World War II. The original plaque with the names of these men is
located just inside the main entrance of the current hospital.
At that time the hospital
had no official corporate structure. It was not-for-profit and non-governmental.
A governing board was elected. Only those who had donated to the building fund
were eligible to vote.
Realizing that they needed
operational expertise, the board contracted with a Lutheran sect from Alamosa,
Colorado to operate the hospital. Within two years disagreements between the
administration and the board brought an end to this management arrangement.
1950 – 1977
The locally elected board assumed control of the hospital and hired a series of
administrators who oversaw the hospital’s daily operations. Through the years,
the hospital prospered and developed a nursing home in 1957. In 1971, the
nursing home became Vista Grande Nursing Home and occupied a building on Mildred
Road. For the next six years, Southwest Memorial Hospital and Vista Grande
Nursing Home were operated separately.
In the mid 1970s the board
contracted with Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) for professional
management of the hospital. (HCA was later divided into a hospital management
division called Quorum Health Resources which currently manages Southwest
Memorial Hospital, and an owned-hospital division, which was later merged into
HCA-Columbia.)
1977 – Present
The hospital grew and by 1977 it became obvious that the community had outgrown
the facility; a new structure was needed. A system was also needed to provide
funds during times when expenses exceeded revenue and for the acquisition of
expensive modern medical equipment needed to serve the community.
Through the Hill-Burton Act,
the Federal government provided funds for construction of hospitals that would
assume the responsibility of caring for patients without financial resources. A
group of local citizens and the hospital board arranged to obtain funding
through this program for construction of a new hospital adjacent to the Vista
Grande Nursing Home. The land had previously been donated to Southwest Memorial
Hospital by the Carpenter family.
Once funds for construction
were secured, these concerned citizens petitioned the County Commissioners to
establish a special district to provide tax money for the operation of the
hospital. A plan was approved by the commissioners, an election was held to
establish the district and elect a board of directors, and the Montezuma County
Hospital District was formed. One of the first acts of the new board was to
issue $1,446,000 in revenue bonds to fund hospital and nursing home operations.
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