Dedicated group instigates center
By Darlene Stromstad‑Boe
October 3, 1979, Independent
A story on the Foster County Medical Center starts with a group of dedicated people who saw the need for a central medical facility in the county. They were willing to do something about it and now the clinic is one‑year‑old.
A few years ago some Carrington area residents discussed the need for an additional doctor in the community. The reasoning was twofold: first, the demand for medical care far exceeded available staff in the city, and second, a lack of patients at the hospital could jeopardize its existence.
The situation had been discussed for years but it took this group of dedicated people to get action. They beloved one way to attract an additional doctor to the city was to build a clinic. Besides, there was no central clinic in Carrington or the county. Thus the idea for the Foster County Medical Center was born.
A committee consisting of Lloyd Case (who has since moved to Fargo), Lee Aljets, Alan Butts, Alan Willyard and Jim Erickson did the groundwork for initial planning. This group was later expanded to include Peggy Smith, Jolene Haugen, Tom Seaburg, Kermit Skadberg and Harold Spickler.
Before the committee committed itself members visited other clinics in the state, studied how they operated, looked into the feasibility of such a clinic and found "it would really be an asset to have the clinic here," said member Peggy Smith.
"We'd talked about it so long", she said. "We felt we'd better do something or we may lose our hospital."
The next step was to determine if local funding would be behind the project because the clinic would be an impossibility without community backing.
Organizations, clubs, businesses and banks were approached and the committee found that those contacted were behind their effort and would donate finances.
Members of the committee and about 15 to 20 helpers went door to door collecting pledges. "Hopefully we hit everybody in town," Smith said. Funds were also solicited in surrounding communities and towns in the county.
When the committee felt they had enough pledges to get started, construction began in the fall of 1977. In August 1978, office space was rented to Dr. Richard Geier, a native to the area, and the clinic opened for business.
In one year, the clinic staff has seen over 8,200 patients, or roughly, nearly 40 a day. "The clinic sees lots of patients that ordinarily were going out of town," Smith said. Previously people from outlying areas headed to Harvey or Jamestown for medical care and the clinic has brought them to Carrington.
The clinic was built to accommodate four doctors. Two doctors' cubicles, which include four rooms each, have yet to be finished. And the city is still in need of an additional doctor. The clinic committee felt when the blue prints were drawn the community could use four doctors. That feeling still exists but in rural areas doctors are hard to come by. Two committees in town are presently trying to bring an additional physician to Carrington.
The building: efficient, convenient
The Foster County medical Center is a 6,600 square foot structure, constructed at a cost of $280,000, and is one of the few, if not the only medical center in the state built entirely by community donations and pledges.
The clinic began operating August 1978, and since that time 8,217 office calls have been handled by Dr. Rick Geier, who joined the hospital at its opening. The clinic's patient load is 2,884.
The building is equipped with rooms to accommodate four doctors, with each doctor's office surrounded by three exam rooms. The doctor's office and exam rooms are located in four separate units.
Two halls run east and west on each side of the building with two doctor's units on each side. The exam rooms are 10 feet by 12 feet.
The laboratory is on the east end and the minor surgery room is on the south side. The traffic flow is designed to allow patients to be transferred from that room through the connecting corridor to the hospital.
Additional rooms include a 19‑foot by 14‑foot waiting room on the west end and a nurses' station and doctor area. Approximately half of the doctors' space and exam rooms have not been completed.
General contractor for the building was Roland Sharbono General Contractors. Sherman Plumbing and Heating took care of the mechanical construction and James River Electric was in charge of the electrical work.
Managed by a board of directors, clinic space is rented to Dr. Rick Geier.
In addition to providing additional medical care to the area, another doctor has created an influx of patients at the Carrington Hospital.
Sister Francine Janousek, administrator of the Carrington and New Rockford Hospitals, said hospital patient load is directly related to the number of practicing physicians, because more doctors mean more people seeking medical care in the city.
The influx of patients from a third doctor to the city could mean the necessity of building on to the city's hospital.
But not all is a success story for the clinic. Alan Butts, Carrington, chairman of the clinic committee, stated, "We're short a considerable amount of money. The committee is short "roughly $30,000 to $40,000. We need that amount to pay the debts and finish the building. The clinic cost about $280,000", he said.
"We've talked about it (another fund drive) but it's hard to get going. We'll get started sometime," said member Jolene Haugen. "We have to."
In addition to those rooms not completed, the parking lot has yet to be paved.
The shortage comes from those people pledging money during the fund drive and not honoring them. Also pledges by people that have left the community, in many instances, have gone unpaid.
"We have a big stack of no‑payments, " Haugen said. " The furnace hasn't worked right since day one," Haugen continued. And the air conditioning has created problems.
The committee is definitely "a non‑profit organization", Smith said, adding that initially they hadn't planned "on being this much of a non‑profit organization".
Although the committee collected "quite a lot" from residential areas, Smith said, "we hoped they'd be larger than they were." Many of the larger pledges are to be paid over a period of years, she said. "And those that aren't paid don't help any," she concluded. The community was very generous in their donations, she said, "but we still need more".
The clinic committee bought the basics needed for the clinic while other items were donated as gifts. Some persons and organizations contributed money to pay for the furnishings of one room. A couple hundred dollars were given anonymously.
Calling the committee "a group of very dedicated people," Smith recalls that "we all looked at each other when it came to signing our names on the dotted line. We thought that if we didn't get enough (money) we'd find it somewhere."
Carrington continued to grow throughout the years. Its location in the center of the state led it to be called the Central City. With the construction of buildings to provide facilities for meetings for organizations it has become known as an ideal location for conventions and other statewide meetings. Two railroads eventually went through town as well as highways 281‑200 and 52. It is a distribution center‑ providing opportunities for various kinds of businesses which found it profitable to locate here. It has been a training center for personnel of some of the businesses. The people come here to work for a time and are then moved to other locations to be managers, foremen, etc. Consequently there are people moving in and out of town all the time.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 226