KSJD Local Newscast - March 19, 2024

Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez is holding its own financially, but to keep it viable over the long term, people need to use it for as many services as possible. That was one message officials gave Thursday during a talk about the annual report for the private not-for-profit that operates the hospital, Southwest Health System. They said the hospital had more 80 days of cash in hand at the end of February, which is the required amount. Its retail pharmacy is doing well, the emergency room is busy, its birthing center remains open, and more than half of the people in Montezuma County have utilized its services. However, the aging facility needs some expensive capital improvements, including a new roof. Revenues generally aren’t adequate to pay for those. SHS CEO Joe Theine explained that most hospitals in the nation’s rural communities, including Southwest Memorial, were built with federal, not local, funds. The federal monies came from the 1946 Hill-Burton Act, which reportedly funded the construction of about a third of the hospitals in the United States. Theine said that level of enlightened political support is one of the things that is needed to sustain hospitals in rural America.