Floyd County Medical Center receives $1 million grant for new HVAC system as part of expansion project

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Progress toward the Floyd County Medical Center’s new clinic relocation and hospital expansion project is well under way, and an announcement this week will play a significant role in that project.

The federal government announced Tuesday that the medical center will receive $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of grants to improve access to health care and food security in Iowa.

USDA Rural Development Iowa Director Theresa Greenfield announced that USDA is investing $6.2 million in 10 grants in Iowa through the Emergency Rural Health Care Grants program.

Floyd County Medical Center in Charles City is receiving a $1 million grant to purchase and install heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Craig Carstens, the Floyd County Medical Center (FCMC) chief financial officer, told the Press the new HVAC system will be part of the project to relocate the clinic to a new three-story addition that will be built as part of a hospital renovation project.

“It just fit with our project to use it for HVAC because it would help for the whole facility,” Carstens said. “It would help making sure we have our air changes, and making sure the air is cleaner and help with the mechanical part of the building.”

According to the USDA announcement, “This project will provide energy-efficient air handling units to enhance air quality and infection control inside the hospital. Once in operation, the new HVAC systems will help eliminate airborne pathogens, including COVID-19 threats, increase the comfort of patients, staff, and visitors, and promote the health of residents in this rural community and the surrounding rural areas.”

Carstens said plans for the clinic addition and hospital renovation are moving right along since the project was approved by the FCMC Board of Trustees in April.

The plan will move the clinic offices from their current location in a separate building south of the medical center to the new three-story addition that will be added on to the hospital, create a new entry area with shared registration space for the hospital, clinic and other services, and create additional space for various departments of the hospital.

The design work is getting down to specifics, as “nitty-gritty” as where furniture will be located in various rooms, how exam rooms will be laid out, which doors will open in and which doors will open out, Carstens said.

The project was originally proposed by Accord Architecture of Ames to include the option of a third floor in the addition, and the option of a basement. At the time the Board of Trustees approved the project it included the third floor and the basement, but originally they were going to be shells, available for finishing as needed in the future.

Now the plan is to finish out the third floor for an outpatient services clinic, and build a meeting and training space in the basement, Carstens said.

The goal is to begin construction on the $26 million project in late April 2024, he said.

The majority of the funding will come from a USDA low-interest construction loan, and the official application for that has been submitted for review, Carstens said.

There was a deadline this week for companies to submit proposals to the medical center to be considered as the construction manager company for the project.

The medical center is going with a “construction management at risk” project proposal, where the construction manager is responsible for delivering the project at a price that’s under a guaranteed maximum budget amount.

“We’ll go through those qualifications and narrow down which ones meet our criteria,” Carstens said. “From there we’ll reach out back to the construction managers to give us an official proposal to look at a guaranteed maximum price, and then we’ll choose from those proposals.”

At least the clinic part of the project needs to be completed before July 2026. The current clinic is classified as an HSPA (Health Professional Shortage Area) rural clinic, which means the county is designated as being underserved by medical professionals.

Dawnett Willis, the FCMC CEO, has said that rural clinic designation – which is evaluated every four years in July – plays a major role in the reimbursement rate the clinic receives for Medicare and Medicaid, and they do not want to rick losing that designation.

Carstens said if the clinic can be completed and pass state inspection before the next review in July 2026 then the change in location won’t affect its HSPA rating.

“The whole building does not have to be completed by then, but the clinic portion – those two floors of the clinic – need to be finished so they can be inspected,” he said. The goal is to reach that point by April 2026, to allow a several months window to make sure everything is approved before July.

Carstens said there have been lots of ideas suggested for uses of the former clinic building. His own preference would be to move some of the medical center’s business offices there, from the space they are using now in the Ferguson Building downtown.

“If I have an opportunity to bring them back to the hospital campus that would be wonderful, but that building is very choppy, and the building’s just not in great shape, so I don’t know if that’s feasible or not,” he said.

The other awards to Iowa organizations that were announced by the USDA this week went to:

• Decatur County Hospital in Leon, receiving a $274,600 grant to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19.
• Food Bank of Iowa, based in Polk County, receiving a $1 million grant to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19.
• Greene County Medical Center, receiving a $1 million grant to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19.
• Humboldt County Memorial Hospital in Humboldt, receiving a $249,900 grant to construct a new outpatient therapy and mental health clinic.
• Knoxville Community Hospital, receiving a $699,900 grant to recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Lee County, receiving a $974,000 grant to construct a public health building in Fort Madison.
• Sioux Center Health in Sioux County, receiving a $125,200 grant to construct an infusion center.
• Van Buren County Hospital in Keosauqua, receiving a $419,700 grant to recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Virginia Gay Hospital in Vinton, receiving a $466,600 grant to recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.