Exploring Opportunities for a New Integrated Health Building in Coos Co., July 8

Coos County is evaluating an exciting opportunity to create a shared campus model of health care. Coos County is seeking to partner with others to develop and build a state of the art health care delivery campus that would meet the needs of the community well into the future. “This project is one that will serve Coos County residents for many years to come,” stated Melissa Cribbins, Coos County Commissioner. She went on to say “Fortunately, our legislators have had the foresight to provide state and federal funding to allow projects like ours to move forward without taking away from the general fund dollars that we use to provide other core services.” “A new facility for public health and behavioral health services would be a huge asset to the area and our community members,” stated Bob Main, Chair of Coos County Board of Commissioners. Ginger Swan, Director of Coos Health & Wellness (CH&W) is excited about the possibility. “We have needed a new facility for a long time and this represents our best option to serve our customers in a location that they can feel good about while also receiving high quality care.” The County has been planning for several years to find a new location to create health care transformation in Coos County, but discussions about a campus type situation have been recent. “We realized that it would be easier for individuals to get their health needs met all at the same place and providers may be more effective and efficient if we were closer to each other,” Swan relates. Coos County currently offers both public and behavioral health services from the North Bend Annex. The Annex, built in 1923 as the Keizer Brothers Hospital, has become sorely inadequate to the task of delivering modern, high quality services with the recent expansion of the Oregon Health Plan and the need to better integrate all health services. For additional information, contact Melissa Cribbins, Coos County, at 541-396-7539 or mcribbins@co.coos.or.us