Wallowa County’s own Wallowa Memorial Hospital and its staff have been diligent these past several years under the sound leadership and guiding hand of Chief Executive Officer Larry Davy. And it’s paying off. The apparent effort has culminated in a host of national awards and honors as well as a round of applause from the Wallowa County Chieftain’s editorial board.

As we reported last month, in 2018 the hospital demonstrated a functional level of financial security both by making more money and growing profits while simultaneously offering more services to individuals who otherwise might not be able to afford to pay for the services they’ve recieved. Even more impressive for Wallowa County’s largest employer, which offers an average pay rate higher than that of Wallowa County’s median income, is that these accomplishments came during a tumultuous time as rural American hospitals face new increasing challenges.

As Davy himself pointed out, just under 50 percent of the remaining 1,300 rural hospitals are struggling financially at least to some extent. Yet Davy’s emphasis on the importance of financial sustainability as it relates to continued quality of service has been remarkably effective. Just four years before Wallowa Memorial Hospital’s profitable 2018 year, the construction debt for the roughly 10 year old building stood at about $19 million, and now sits as low as $11 million.

The ambitious goals for Wallowa Memorial Hospital and its leadership to be at the cutting edge of rural and community healthcare has been well received by more than a couple different healthcare ranking and analytics institutions it seems. Wallowa Memorial Hospital earned a spot in the top 20 Critical Access Hospitals out of 1,340 nation wide by the National Rural Health Association in both 2017 and 2018. And the hospital has been on iVantage Analytics radar for some time now, earning a spot in its Top 100 Critical Access Hospital ranking list each year between 2013-18.

Wallowa County’s sole hospital was further honored by Healthgrades with a Patient Safety Excellence Award, while Woman’s Choice Awards credited Wallowa Memorial for its “Overall Patient Experience” for small hospitals across the nation. The hospital also ranked in the top 20 Most Beautiful Small Hospitals.

Frankly, each and any of these honors should make Wallowa County proud of its local hospital, particularly while it stands on its own feet without the security of a larger umbrella network of hospitals. But it’s the community focused mission that earns a full round of applause from the editorial board at the Wallowa County Chieftain.

Beyond its impressive and established progress towards a sound infrastructure of financial stability and outstanding medical care, Wallowa Memorial works directly to strengthen the fabric throughout Wallowa County, all in addition to its role as the county’s largest employer.

As of now, the hospital is on track to give away $1 million in healthcare to those without adequate health insurance or other means to cover health expenses. Davy expressed the force behind that agenda, saying, “our goal is to make sure no one is turned away.” But he also noted that “A million dollars is a lot of money for a small hospital.”

As we were reminded by one of our readers just a couple weeks ago, we need to remember that our country is great. We’ll expand that sentiment to say our county is great. So we give credit where its due with a round of applause for Wallowa Memorial Hospital and all those who contribute to its success, because its contributions to Wallowa County help make it even greater.