The care we need

“It’s kind of scary thinking about traveling an hour plus to get the care we need,” Marketing and Human Resource Specialist Lauren McClintock said at the Aug. 27 grand opening for the new Rugby hospital. “We want to think about the future when we think of health care, and we want to think about our communities and what can help us the most.”

Though a rural hospital, Rugby’s Heart of America Medical Center sees over 10,000 patients a year.

There was a pressing need to replace the old hospital, which had served Rugby and the surrounding rural communities for many years, McClintock says.

The facility improves patient care with new, state-of-the art medical equipment, and a new layout brings staff closer to patients, reducing employee fatigue.

“Now, we have the energy back to make what we want out of this and make it better for everyone involved,” McClintock says.

It’s imperative independent rural hospitals stay viable, says North Dakota Rural Health Association Executive Director Kylie Nissen.

“A lot of times, the hospital is the first or second biggest business in the town and is really what helps keep the community going. If they’re gone, that town really suffers and eventually just fizzles out to … sometimes, there isn’t even a town left,” Nissen says.

When it comes to health outcomes, rural hospitals play a critical role. They often stabilize patients for transport to other facilities for emergency surgery or more advanced care.

Nissen knows this personally, having grown up in rural North Dakota. Her friend’s father had a heart attack in Rugby. He was stabilized at the local hospital before being transported to Grand Forks, where doctors saved his life.

“He would have died within 30 miles of leaving home. … Scenarios like that (occur on) a daily basis,” Nissen says.
 

HEALING COMMUNITIES
The Heart of America Medical Center is one of many recent health care developments in rural North Dakota. Others include the new Anne Carlsen Center campus in Jamestown, the Northwood Deaconess Health Center in Northwood, the Towner County Medical Center in Cando and even projects that supply mobile care units and ambulance districts.

Plus, a Belcourt recovery center now serves tribal members, who often travel 45 miles or more to get the care they need.

“We needed something for our members here,” says Erin Belgarde, interim business manager and recovery center board president.

The Turtle Mountain Recovery Center, which is served by North Central Electric Cooperative, will be the first of its kind, offering comprehensive and culturally responsive care through its addiction recovery programs. There will be a sweat lodge, tipi, medicinal sanctuary and a bald eagle sanctuary.

Robert Upton, who has been sober for eight years, was asked to serve on the board as vice president to represent the people in recovery.

“It started with a dream, right? We had a dream about healing our community,” Upton says.

A single father with five children, he is passionate about helping people recover, because he understands how addiction can break families.

“It’s not just about healing the people that are coming here, it’s about healing their families and healing their loved ones, and that is going to help heal our community,” Upton says.
 

BUILDING COMMUNITIES
It takes an immense amount of work for these projects to come to life, Belgarde says, but she believes the challenges and the Turtle Mountain Recovery Center project were meant for her and her team. Through COVID-19 setbacks and red tape, the recovery center held its grand opening the first week of October.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Dr. Basil Gooden and USDA Rural Development State Director Erin Oban attended the Aug. 27 hospital grand opening in Rugby. They credit the Biden-Harris administration for prioritizing rural development funding and helping make rural health care projects possible.

USDA Rural Development, which offers loans, grants and loan guarantees, provided financing for the new health care facilities.

“Rural America needs the same resources as we have in other parts of the United States,” Gooden says.

More than 70 programs are available through USDA Rural Development for nonprofits, communities, individuals and other organizations to access funds to improve the quality of life in rural communities.

“Our programs could nearly build a community from the ground up,” Oban says.
 

CARING COMMUNITIES
Most North Dakotans, if they don’t live there themselves, are only one or two degrees of separation away from the rural community, Oban says.

Oban grew up in Ray, a small town in northwestern North Dakota that did not have a hospital.

She thinks about health care as a daughter who lost her father to cancer, after watching him struggle and needing frequent access to care.

She thinks about health care as a mother who takes her child to appointments, and how difficult it would be if she had to drive hours to get him there.

“The less distance and barriers you can create for people, our neighbors, our families in North Dakota, to get access to the care that they deserve … it’s what we would all want for the people we love,” Oban says.

“As North Dakotans, and really as Americans, we care about each other. That’s what this whole place has been created on,” she says.

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Kennedy DeLap is interning with North Dakota Living. She can be reached at kdelap@ndarec.com.