FINALLY!

LOS LUNAS—Words like “momentous,” “gratitude” and “community” were in frequent use last week, as Valencia County commissioners donned hard hats and picked up golden shovels to break ground on one of most long-awaited and at times controversial projects in the county — the Valencia County hospital.

On an empty lot on the northeast corner of Main Street and Sand Sage Road in the village of Los Lunas, under a true blue New Mexico sky, Valencia County Commission Chairman Gerard Saiz welcomed the crowd and told them, “Today, we stand together at a momentous crossroads that reflects the collective will and determination of the people of Valencia County.”

Saiz joins a long line of county commissioners and local officials who have worked to get the hospital project to this point since a voter-approved mill levy in 2006. He called the hospital “a new era of health care in the county made possible by your vision, dedication and unwaivering belief in a healthier future for all,” saying it was an investment in the well being of the community.

The chairman expressed deep gratitude for local government leadership, as well as the legislative delegation representing Valencia County and the governor for their commitment to and support of the project, and most importantly, a 2021 allocation of $50 million for construction.

“That was a decision to invest in the health care infrastructure of Valencia County,” Saiz said. “This is about every resident having access to health care when they need it ... The work is just beginning. It’s our responsibility to make sure every dollar of that investment is spent wisely so we can meet the high standard of care. We are not just going to look back on this as a milestone but as a turning point where we chose to thrive and make health care a cornerstone of our community. This is a testament of what we can achieve when we work together for the common good to make a stronger, more vibrant Valencia County.”

Plans for the 40,000-square foot, single-story facility include 11 inpatient rooms in the first phase, with four more in the second phase, a 24/7 emergency department, an imaging department, pharmacy, labs, surgical services and two endoscopy suites — with room for two additional operating rooms if needed in the future — a critical care unit, as well as an area for diagnostics and therapy.

The emergency department entrance and ambulance drop off will be on the northwest side of the site, with a helipad located north of the ED.

The site plan includes space to expand the inpatient rooms and surgical areas in the future, as well as plans for a 24,000-square foot, two-story medical office building on the northeast corner of the site.

In April, the commissioners voted 4-0 to award a health care facilities contract to Brazos — the joint venture between Texas-based Community Healthcare Corporation and Albuquerque’s Lovelace Health System — for the operation of a Valencia County hospital. The site selection was left to Brazos. The design/build team of FBT Architects and Bradbury Stamm were selected for the project. With the ground breaking on Nov. 20, construction is estimated to take about 18 to 19 months.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was expected to attend the ground-breaking ceremony, but instead her health policy advisor and recently appointed interim cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health Gina DeBlassie delivered remarks on her behalf.

“This is more than just a building. This is a symbol of progress and commitment to providing accessible, high quality health care in rural New Mexico,” DeBlassie said. “We are working to improve access to rural health care across the state and this is a perfect example.”

Saying this day comes with a “debt of gratitude to those who came before us,” New Mexico Rep. Brian Baca noted he and his fellow legislators were only able to be at the ground breaking because of the many people who came before them who had a hand in bringing them together.

“This is how it should work. One community to come together with a goal to take care of its citizens,” Baca said. “There were long hours, long nights and a lot of challenges. If we keep that same spirit of working together and overcoming obstacles, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”

The beginning of the new hospital has its roots in the closure of the old hospital in the spring of 1990. After county voters rejected a 3 mill levy to help with operational costs for the Presbyterian Hospital on Christopher Road in Belen in November of 1989, the company announced plans to scale back operations and become a family health center, closing the 24-hour emergency room.

The facility in Belen is still in operation as the Presbyterian Medical Center, offering primary care and urgent care during the week. Anyone needing emergency medical services has to go to a hospital in Albuquerque or Socorro.

More than a decade later, Youth Development, Inc. began the legwork of determining health access issues in Valencia County, with the help of a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2004. The No. 1 need identified? A hospital.

Valencia County commissioners put the question of whether the community would put its tax dollars where its mouths were, asking voters to approve an eight-year, 2.75 mill levy tax to pay for the cost of operating, maintaining or providing for a hospital/24 hour emergency healthcare facility in Valencia County. In the November 2006 election, the answer was yes, with 14,231 votes in favor and 4,436 against the mill levy.

In June of 2007, a lawsuit was filed by nine county taxpayers that would kick off nearly two decades of legal battles, starts and stops and controversy about the project. When litigation finally shook out, the county was told the mill levy proceeds could be used only for operation and maintenance of a hospital, not construction.

In late 2021, Lujan Grisham delivered a holiday gift — legislation allocating $50 million for construction of an acute care hospital.

In her speech ahead of the bill signing, Lujan Grisham said she hoped to eventually use the path to constructing a hospital in Valencia County as a blueprint to expand acute care to other rural areas of the state with limited access to medical services.

“We could be the first state in the country … we can show that it’s viable,” the governor said three years ago. “That means that New Mexico, again, can lead the nation in real rural health care delivery and change those models of care forever.”

New Mexico legislators approved House Bill 2 during a special session that year, which made one-time investments, such as for the hospital in Valencia County, broadband, outdoor recreation grants, tourism marketing, electric vehicle charging stations, state park facilities, housing and more. New Mexico received $504.5 million under the federal American Rescue Plan Act that gave new life to the hospital project.

The mill levy was paid by property owners across Valencia County from 2007 to 2014, and as of the close of the fiscal year on June 30, the county had $27,352,978 collected for operation and maintenance of a hospital.