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Description

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Mission Statement
Boulder City Hospital seeks to continually improve the quality of the care and service to our patients guests and physicians We promote effective and efficient utilization of available resources to ensure longterm financial viability Boulder City Hospital seeks to earn the trust of the residents of Boulder City neighboring communities and area visitors by meeting their health care safety and related educational needs with compassion integrity and sincerity without regard to ones ability to pay

Vision Statement
Boulder City Hospital is deeply committed to the community and is fully focused on the services it provides Boulder City Hospital envisions itself as the center of a locally governed collaborative and adaptable system for the delivery of high quality health care services In order to continue to excel Boulder City Hospital constantly strives to remain on the forefront of medical technology by maintaining a state of the art facility operating efficiently and pursuing continual improvement Its medical staff and support personnel are not only highly educated professionals but also understand the need to be compassionate care givers

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History

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A Critical Access Hospital
On behalf of the administration medical staff and employees we welcome you and your family to Boulder City Hospital We at Boulder City Hospital are deeply committed to the community and seek to provide the highest quality service possible for our patients and visitors Boulder City Hospital envisions itself as the center of a locally governed collaborative and adaptable system for the delivery of high quality healthcare services

Boulder City Hospital hopes its web site will be a useful resource to the community in learning more about the facility If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to Contact Us any time For employment opportunities please click on the Jobs button Please read on for a brief history of your community hospital

The Beginning
By Dennis McBride
Boulder Citys first hospital was built by the Six Companies the group responsible for building Hoover Dam The US Public Health Service the government agency that would have been responsible for maintaining health in the dam town couldnt afford to build a hospital A second government agency the Bureau of Reclamation felt since the majority of workers on the project were employed by Six Companies it was the companies responsibility to build and maintain a hospital The government worked out an arrangement by which Bureau employees could also use the hospital

The hospital site was the top of Block 8 a hill on the northeast side of town originally reserved for a resort hotel The view from the hospital was magnificent the Eldorado Valley and McCullough Mountains to the south and to the north the Colorado River wound lazily through its bed Construction began in August 1931 and the hospital was opened November 15 1931 The cost of the original Boulder City Hospital was 20000

The hospital was built of brick and white stucco and the Lshaped building housed 20 beds and a special orthopedic ward The Pest House an eightbed isolation facility for contagious diseases was maintained away from the main hospital building In 1933 a wing was added to the hospital as an isolation ward and the Pest House was torn down

Six Companies employees were charged 150 per month health fee through payroll deduction which entitled them but not their families to services at Boulder City Hospital Family members of the dam workers were forced to travel to Las Vegas for care

When the dam was finished in 1935 and the Six Companies left Boulder the hospital was closed Those needing medical care went to Las Vegas In some emergency cases the time to travel into town proved fatal In 1938 the National Park Service assumed responsibility for the hospital building and turned it into a museum and office The Park Service left the building in 1941 and the building remained vacant for two years

War Years and Citizen Patrol
In December 1943 the US Public Health Service reopened the hospital to care for war wounded While the Bureau of Reclamation wanted to build a new hospital and had the money building materials were unavailable The Bureau simply remodeled the old hospital and signed a memorandum of agreement with the Health Service providers of refurbished equipment to the hospital Town residents cleaned and repaired the secondhand xray machines sterilizers beds and other items that came from hospitals around the country

Town residents also donated money for an ambulance and organized a volunteer ambulance corps Subscription to this service was 15 per year Membership entitled the bearer to one ride to the hospital

In 1949 the Bureau of Reclamation took control of the hospital which continuously lost money The hospital served the city well enough but it proved to be a financial drain on the government In 1954 with no forewarning the Bureau dumped the hospital If Boulder City wanted a hospital it had to raise 15000 in two weeks to cover operating expenses and maintenance The townspeople rallied and began a doortodoor fundraising campaign called Save the Hospital on February 25 1954 By March 18 the fund surpassed 15000 and the hospital was turned over to citizen control on April 15 1954

Boulder City Hospital Auxiliary and Beyond
The Boulder City Hospital Auxiliary was formed by local women to help with hospital work and to raise money to finance operation of the hospital A fund raising effort begun in 1963 by the Auxiliary has become a Boulder institution This was the Boulder City Hospital Auxiliary art festival Art in the Park The first festival brought in 3000 and involved fifty artists including James Swinnerton

On December 8 1973 a new Boulder City Hospital located on Adams Boulevard opened its doors The old Six Companies Hospital on the hill fell into disrepair and was condemned The Sisters of Charity bought the building in 1976 and began renovation in 1980 turning the hospital into a retreat house known as Wellspring The building was dedicated on April 5 1981 and a year later was listed on the National Register of Historic Places