About Boulder City Hospital
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 City's first hospital was built by the Six Companies, the group responsible for
building Hoover Dam. The U.S. Public Health Service, the government agency that would
have been responsible for maintaining health in the dam town, couldn't 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 $20,000.
The hospital was built of brick and white stucco, and the L-shaped building housed 20 beds
and a special orthopedic ward. The Pest House, an eight-bed 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 $1.50 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 U.S. 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 second-hand x-ray
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 $15,000 in two weeks to cover operating expenses and
maintenance. The townspeople rallied and began a door-to-door fundraising campaign
called 'Save the Hospital' on February 25, 1954. By March 18 the fund surpassed $15,000
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 $3,000 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.
|
