Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center
Entrance and main building
Geography
LocationAlamogordo, New Mexico, United States
Organization
Care systemMedicare, Medicaid, Public
TypeGeneral
Services
Emergency departmentLevel IV trauma center
Beds99
History
Opened1949
Links
Websitehttp://www.gcrmc.org
ListsHospitals in New Mexico

Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center is a general hospital, owned and operated by the non-profit Otero County Hospital Association, that serves the Alamogordo, New Mexico area. It is the first military/civilian shared hospital facility in the United States.[1][2]

GCRMC is accredited by the Det Norske Veritas.[3] It opened in 1949, and in 2008 it was the largest non-governmental employer in Alamogordo, with 650 employees.

Services

Shared military and civilian facility

With the opening of its new facility in 1999, GCRMC became the first hospital in the United States shared by active-duty military personnel and civilians.[1] Air Force physicians from Holloman Air Force Base are credentialed at the hospital to admit and treat Department of Defense beneficiaries.[2][4] The Air Force contributed $7 million for equipment for the new hospital in 1998 and DoD patients will get substantial discounts at the hospital for 15 years, with a guaranteed recovery of $7 million within the first seven years.[5][6]

Medical services

The hospital is a Level III trauma center. [7] It has 99 beds[2] on a 65-acre (260,000 m2) campus and facilities for MRI, CAT scan, dialysis, and sleep disorder studies, and has a medical laboratory on site.[8][9] A Southwest Med Evac air ambulance helicopter, stationed full-time at the hospital, is used to transport patients from the mountain areas to GCRMC, and to transport patients from GCRMC to hospitals in El Paso, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque. [10]

Catering

The hospital's food and nutrition services department operates a catering service, Mountain View Catering, that caters both on-site and off-site events and provides food service at the nearby New Mexico State University Alamogordo campus. It has been so successful that 60% of the department's revenue comes from outside the hospital.[11] [12]

History

Founding and early years

The Otero County Hospital Association was formed in 1946 to build a basic county hospital.[9] Gerald Champion Memorial Hospital was built at the corner of Tenth Street and Cuba Avenue in Alamogordo and was dedicated on Sunday, July 31, 1949[13] and officially opened for business on Tuesday, August 2, with 24 beds.[9] A number of additions and renovations were made to the facility over the years.[9]

The hospital is named after Gerald D. Champion, a local businessman and civic leader who was chairman of the Otero County Hospital Association during the fund drive for the first building.[9][14] Champion died in a private airplane crash on February 3, 1948, during the fund drive.[9][15][16] In addition to chairing the fund drive, Champion was mayor of Tularosa, operated hardware and building supply stores in Alamogordo and in Tularosa, was chairman of the Central Committee of the state Republican Party, and was active in many civic groups.[17]

Transition to regional medical center

The hospital moved to a new building on Scenic Drive near the New Mexico State University Alamogordo campus in 1999,[18] and changed its name to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center.[15] The original building remained vacant for several years and when no use could be found for it was torn down in 2003.[19]

The new building was constructed at 152,000 square feet (14,100 m2) at a construction cost of $25,841,000. It won Building Design & Construction magazine's Grand Award: Institutional in 2000. The program manager was American Health Facilities Development (a subsidiary of Quorum Health Resources), the architects were Collins Reisenbichler Architects (since merged with Perkins and Will), and the general contractor was Robins & Morton.[20]

GCRMC celebrated its 60th anniversary on August 22, 2009, with the opening of a renovated entryway and a new obstetrics unit.[21]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Turner, Lisa (1999-11-22). "New hospital is dedicated". Alamogordo Daily News. p. 1. OCLC 10674593.
  2. 1 2 3 "Gerald Champion Home Page". Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  3. ↑ "Quality Report: Summary of Accreditation Quality Information". The Joint Commission. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  4. ↑ "Holloman cuts services as new hospital opens". Alamogordo Daily News. 1999-12-14. p. 1. OCLC 10674593.
  5. ↑ "Hospital project to go forward with DOD contribution". Alamogordo Daily News. 1998-10-08. p. 1. OCLC 10674593.
  6. ↑ Chavez, Ivan (August 2000). "Focus on Alamogordo; More than Stealth; The federal government is a huge factor in the area's economy, which doesn't impede private-sector development efforts". New Mexico Business Journal. 24 (7): 43–46. ISSN 0164-6796. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  7. ↑ Bryan, Susan Montoya (2007-12-20). "Three trauma centers named". Alamogordo Daily News. p. 1A. OCLC 10674593.
  8. ↑ Brown, Monica M. (2002-11-15). "Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center: Third anniversary sees more changes, improvements". Alamogordo Daily News. p. 7A. OCLC 10674593.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Murphy, Dan (2000). New Mexico, the distant land: an illustrated history. photo research by John O. Baxter (2000 ed.). Sun Valley, CA: American Historical Press. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-1-892724-09-0.
  10. ↑ Wagoner, Alice Louise (2005-05-11). "After a year of flight rescue". Alamogordo Daily News. p. 2A. OCLC 10674593.
  11. ↑ "Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center Catering Brochure". Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center. Archived from the original on 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
  12. ↑ Schilling, Becky (2008-05-15). "External Expertise: Looking off campus for business made sense for Stephanie Tanner". Food Service Director. 21 (5): 38, 40. ISSN 0897-7208.
  13. ↑ "Many Attend Hospital Dedication Ceremony". Alamogordo News. 1949-08-04. p. 1. OCLC 10674593.
  14. ↑ "Hospital Named for Drive Head". Alamogordo News. 1948-02-19. p. 1. OCLC 10674593.
  15. 1 2 Harris, Cheryl M. (1998-11-08). "New local hospital to keep old name". Alamogordo Daily News. p. 1. OCLC 10674593.
  16. ↑ "Exhaustive Search Reveals the Tragic Fate of Local Fliers". Alamogordo News. 1948-02-12. p. 1. OCLC 10674593.
  17. ↑ "Champion Services Held Wednesday in Tularosa". Alamogordo News. 1948-02-12. pp. 1, 4. OCLC 10674593.
  18. ↑ Brown, Monica M. (2003-10-26). "Creation of old hospital brought community together". Alamogordo Daily News. pp. 1A, 2A. OCLC 10674593.
  19. ↑ Brown, Monica M. (2003-12-03). "Old hospital building on the way down". Alamogordo Daily News. pp. 1A, 3A. OCLC 10674593.
  20. ↑ Barista, Dave (June 2000). "Southwestern Hospitality: Single-story "medical mall" delivers services—and scenery—to its patients". Building Design & Construction. 41 (6): 52–56. ISSN 0007-3407.
  21. ↑ Österreich, Elva K. (2009-08-23). "Celebrating 60 years: GCRMC displays its remodel, looks to expand and invest in community medical services". Alamogordo Daily News. pp. 1A, 2A. OCLC 10674593. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 23 August 2009.

Further reading

  • And The People Had Vision...The History of Gerald Champion Memorial Hospital 1948–1998. Foreword by Lillie M. Lewis. Gerald Champion Memorial Hospital.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) Commemorative booklet that reprints newspaper stories from the early days and gives a snapshot of hospital services in 1998.

32°55′26″N 105°56′02″W / 32.924°N 105.934°W / 32.924; -105.934

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