Campbell County Health to rent Hulett clinic

oundation (CCMF) has announced that its new clinic in Hulett, the Red Bluffs Medical Facility, will soon open for business under the leadership of Campbell County Health (CCH), with a projected opening date at the end of October.

"They are just ecstatic about this new clinic here in Hulett," says Tracy Bush, CCMF. "We've got a good group of people who are very enthusiastic."

Jerry Klein, Chief Operating Officer for CCH, confirms the news, saying, "We've been talking about that for several months and we are now at a point where we've made a commitment to do that and we are just finishing up the final terms on the lease."

"We just want to thank those members of CCMF, they have been wonderful to work with and we are really excited to be their partners," he continues.

Though the contract is still being finalized, Bush says she's expecting things to move quickly. She anticipates that CCH will begin moving into the clinic on Friday and will celebrate with a grand opening in the near future once, says Klein, the building is as close to operational as possible.

"The way the lease is written is to be official on October 1, and then we would have to bring over all the furnishings and supplies that we would need, so we are kind of kicking around the idea of end of October of first of November," says Klein. "We're trying very hard to get there."

The process of setting up the facility has already begun, according to Bush.

"They just hired a doctor and, believe it or not, his wife has already picked a lot up at the golf course to build a house on. They just moved up here from Texas and they hired him I think because he's helped to set up clinics in the past," Bush says.

"They are going to get hold of Bob [Cummings, CCMSD] to see if Bob is interested in coming over. That's up to him."

CCMF will retain ownership of the building, which will be occupied by CCH and various other services.

"All of the lease agreements were one year lease agreements and CCH asked for a three-year lease agreement," she says. After the three years, she expects there to be an option for CCH to continue occupying the building, "And I'm sure they will."

At first, Bush says, CCH is anticipating two patients per day, but will be aiming for nine patients per day by the end of the year.

"I think it's going to be more like nine patients a day to start with because there are so many people in Hulett that are tired of driving to Spearfish and Rapid to go to the doctor that they can hardly wait to transfer their records over here. It's very exciting for us," she says.

The initial plan, Bush says, is to open the clinic on specific days of the week.

"They are planning on being open Tuesday and Wednesday, but if need be more days, and they're going to have specialists come over from time to time," she says.

"They're going to rotate specialists in there so people don't have to go anywhere else – if they want to make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor [for example], they can."

Klein explains that, as with any start-up business, "you've got to do a slow start," and the hours will expand as the volume of patients increases.

"We are beginning to talk to some of our specialists who would come over," he says. "Maybe it would be once every couple of weeks or once a month."

As for the remainder of the building, the original pharmacist who was expected to occupy the building will not be signing a rental contract, Bush says, due to the issue of CCMSD wanting ownership of it. CCH aims to fill the gap, though, she says, and will be assisting with the search.

"We have talked with them about the pharmacy and about our potential interest, but also a willingness to help them find a pharmacy or pharmacist that might be willing to come over there," says Klein. "That's something we'll start trying to help them with, we are focused primarily on the clinic but we are thinking about the pharmacy as well."

Throughout the rest of the building, says Bush, "We've got a massage therapist picking up a portion of one of the rooms in the building and physical therapy is already in there."

Negotiations for Crook County Medical Services District to occupy the clinic are, of course, no longer an option. The most recent development in that ongoing discussion was an announcement at last month's meeting of the board of trustees that an outside party was intervening.

Bush, however, is not sure what exactly that announcement referred to.

"They have not been in contact with us at all," says Bush. "I have no knowledge of what that is. All I know is what our board has been moving forward with."

Donating the clinic to CCMSD once it was paid off was a deal-breaker for the foundation, she says. She also feels the board was not enthused by the idea of the clinic and says the foundation's financials were sent over to the district as promised, but no response was received.

"I have no knowledge of what they've been doing. All I know is what we've been doing, because we want something positive for this community and all the surrounding communities," she says.