BY SARA KONRAD BARANOWSKI
12/28/11

The effort to raise $5 million in private donations for construction of a new Ellsworth Municipal Hospital paid off as the fundraising committee announced this week it had reached — and exceeded — its goal.

“The members of the Core Campaign Committee for Ellsworth Municipal Hospital extend their heartfelt gratitude to the citizens of Hardin County and beyond for their support and generosity,” the campaign said in a statement. “The support of Healthcare for Hardin County continues to grow as the new facility becomes a reality. It is so exciting to know that our friends and neighbors are with us on this journey: those from a distance that are proud to call this area home and our friends and neighbors right here in Hardin County.”

The $6.5 million raised by the committee will join $5 million in bonding from the city of Iowa Falls and $20 million in bonding from Hardin County to build the $30 million hospital on land south of Iowa Falls on Highway 65.

The committee was formed this summer after the city and county committed to lending their bonding capacity to the hospital project. The campaign officially kicked off in August.

EMH Foundation Director Chad Hammar said throughout the campaign that donors were generous and anxious to give to the project. Donations ranged from pledges and cash gifts to donations of property and grain. And the size of donations varied, too, Hammar said, from $20 on up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The hospital is expected to break ground next summer on the new facility, which will be a single-level hospital which, planners have said, will create new efficiencies and, in doing so, gain more revenue in Medicare reimbursements. Revenue from the hospital will be used to pay off the city and county bonds.

The Core Campaign Committee members included Steve Afdahl, Brent Bonner, John Campbell, Steve Howard, Sara Kelsey, Linda Scallon, Mike Stensland, Chris Weaver and Howard Wenger.

The Foundation is still accepting donations. For more information, visit the Web site at www. myemh.org.

For more information, contact Sarah Baranowski skonrad@iafalls.com at Times Citizen