STAR VALLEY, Wyo. — Star Valley Health expansion in Alpine kicked off Friday with a ceremonial groundbreaking attended by U.S. House Representative Liz Cheney.
The ever-growing population of Star Valley, particularly at the northern end in and around Alpine, has prompted SVH officials to plan for and now begin construction on a new 11,000-square foot clinic. The $9 million venture was to have broke ground last year but COVID put a damper on things.
In an environment where many smaller, more rural hospitals are struggling to stay afloat, Star Valley Health doubled-down on community interests by committing to a new campus facility in Alpine that will house a larger family medicine clinic, urgent care, as well as specialty services such as orthopedics, pain management, dermatology, general surgery, and behavioral health.
Eventually, Star Valley Health would like to expand the campus to include services that are most helpful to the Alpine/northern Star Valley community. The building has been designed with expansion of services in mind to grow with the Alpine community.
While Star Valley Health has benefited from careful financial management in recent years, the organization is not immune to the effects of the current healthcare financial crisis. Factoring in the COVID pandemic and the loss of business caused by the shutdown, SVH says it must be more careful than ever.
Moving forward, Star Valley Health, like nearly every not-for-profit community hospital in the nation, says it will look to community philanthropic support to help fund the new healthcare campus in Alpine.
“For the last 20 years, Star Valley Health has put patients first and has delivered exceptional care to the Alpine community,” said Cheney, who was on hand to commemorate the event. “It was an honor to be a part of Friday’s ceremony as Star Valley expands and offers new services to better meet patients’ needs.”
