Future example: Officials laud JRMC, clinic building, partnerships
The Jamestown Regional Medical Center could be the model for future medical centers around the state, according to a member of North Dakota’s congressional delegation and its lieutenant governor.By: By Chris Olson, The Jamestown Sun, The Jamestown Sun
- Image
- Image
The Jamestown Regional Medical Center could be the model for future medical centers around the state, according to a member of North Dakota’s congressional delegation and its lieutenant governor.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday for the Jamestown Clinic Building, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley both said constructing the JRMC with enough room to house the center’s clinic, the Essentia Health Clinic and possibly the Veterans Administration Clinic is an example of how the state can keep pace with quality of life issues as its economy continues to grow.
“It (the JRMC and clinics) also shows how important it is to maintain critical rural infrastructure,” Heitkamp said. “That we maintain the opportunity for our family, our children, our parents to get quality medical care right here in your community.”
Wrigley said having the JMRC and Essentia Health clinics in the building, with the VA clinic nearby is a benefit for not just Jamestown, but the region and state.
“We heard a lot in the campaign last fall from different people that ‘They knew the North Dakota way,’” he said. “This is the North Dakota way. If you’re not keeping pace with your services, not keeping pace with the No. 1 economy in the nation, we’re not going to get it. Today we are keeping pace. The future is bright.”
Essentia Health West Region President Dr. Greg Glassner said moving the Essentia Clinic into the JRMC building was the best move for the clinic.
“I think we’ll see more and more projects like this,” he said. “We (Essentia) are always looking for partnerships in communities all around the region.”
Mark A. Davis, principal owner of the Davis Group, which owns the new Jamestown Clinic Building, said his company is currently developing six other projects in the region.
“This was our first in North Dakota,” he said. “We think there is plenty of potential for other projects here in the state.”
Wrigley joked during his remarks that he sees the potential in the JRMC’s location west of Jamestown.
“I was telling a friend I wished I owned some land around here because I would put up a sandwich shop, a beauty parlor, a dry cleaners, because there is a lot of potential around here,” he said.
Heitkamp said her experience with breast cancer 12 years ago reinforced what she already believed in North Dakota’s medical system.
“If I had a dollar for every friend of mine from out of state who called and said I had to go someplace else, the Mayo Clinic, where ever,” she said. “I responded ‘Why? I get better care, higher quality care right here in North Dakota,’ and I did.”
Sun reporter Chris Olson can be reached at 701-952-8454
or by email at colson@jamestownsun.com
Tags: local news, news, health
More from around the web
RSS Feeds