Growth

Grundy County Community Foundation

June 1, 2017

Grundy County Memorial Hospital is a regional healthcare destination with a small community feel and big city services. The hospital attracts patients not only from Grundy County but serves individuals from Black Hawk, Butler, Hardin, and Marshall counties.

One of the reasons this small town hospital has gained regional recognition is an expansion of specialty services such as orthopedics, cardiology, dermatology, wound clinic, ENT, and skin cancer. In total, 17 specialists use the facility. “We have a wide variety, which is wonderful for our patient demographic,” said Lynn Blythe, ambulatory services manager. “They don’t have to go far from home to get specialty care.” Since the specialty clinic opened in 2005, patient visits have more than doubled, reaching 7,500 yearly visits. Lynn attributes the increase to the quality of the patient experience. “People trust and respect this hospital and know they are going to get excellent care here,” said Lynn.

The Grundy County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa, is supporting the clinic’s expansion of services for an aging rural population, awarding a $10,000 grant in 2016 to purchase procedure lights for the project. The clinic renovation helps keep and attract specialists, providing them with a state-of-the-art space that makes providing care easier. “The lights have been tremendously impactful for specialties that come here. They enable specialists to get a better picture of what they are treating,” said Lynn. “We are very thankful we had the grant funding to make a better patient and provider experience.”

The hospital sees an even deeper value in the partnership, establishing the Grundy County Memorial Hospital Foundation Fund with the Community Foundation in 2008 to create a stable, forever revenue source. This long-term vision helps the hospital plan for a bright future where it will continue to attract even more specialists, which is good for the hospital and the community. “People know the hospital is a high-quality place to work and receive care. When this happens, people may relocate here and it stimulates other parts of the local economy,” said Lynn.