Tuba City hospital expansion aimed at improved services

With one eye on the future, the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation is looking to improve the services it provides in the present.

"It's time to get back to patient care," Facility Management Director Bryan L. Tsosie said.

Part of that commitment includes a three-story modular building that will be built where the former parking lot was on the south side of the current facility. The entire project, including furnishing, is expected to be less than $7 million.

The corporation operates the Tuba City hospital, which serves eight chapters on the western part of the Navajo Reservation. In addition to the chapters, the hospital provides services for the Hopi and San Juan Paiute tribes, spokeswoman Aurelia Yazzie explained.

"We even get people from LeChee, even though it's closer to Page," Yazzie said.

That's because the Page hospital is a for-profit organization and many of the tribal people don't have insurance, she said.

The Tuba City corporation's service area covers 4,400 square miles.

The Tuba City hospital treats more than 24,000 patients annually, said Lynette Bonar, chief of support services.

Everything is moving along on schedule, Bonar said. The new building is expected to be open for occupancy in September, she added.

The first floor of the new 33,700-square-foot building will house an expanded area for the Comprehensive Diabetes Program, outpatient pharmacy with a convenient drive-up window, and patient registration in the main lobby.

The second floor will be used for Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and walk-in clinics. The Obstetrical and Gynecological Clinic and Pediatric Clinic will be on the third floor.

The current hospital, in a nearly 35-year-old building, is cramped for space, Yazzie said.

The rooms tend to be small so the staff jams as many services as possible in them, she said.

When the Kayenta medical center closed last year it only added to the number of patients using the Tuba City hospital, Yazzie said.

"We're the only regional hospital on Western Navajo," Tsosie said.

Yazzie pointed out the tiny room housing the eye, nose and throat clinic.

"This is how cramped we are. Even though this is supposed to be the pediatrics department, we had to find room in the corner so we could squeeze in ENT," Yazzie said.

With the new modular building, the hospital is trying to utilize space better, she said.

The Tuba City center is almost a city unto itself.

"We are a self-sustaining facility," Tsosie said.

The hospital has its own generators so it can remain operational in the event of a power outage. With patients needing life-support systems or undergoing operations, the hospital can't allow itself to be left in the dark, Tsosie said.

"There are a lot of little things we have to do, so it's not all cut and dried," Tsosie said. "We have to pre-plan."

The new building will be a much-needed improvement but there are still some issues of concern such as housing for hospital employees, Yazzie said.

There are 250 houses for staff and they are all full, said Facilities Manager Terry Crank.

He'd like to see 250 more homes built for employees.

"We have some good employees here," Yazzie said.

Some of those with housing offer temporary lodging for new employees moving into the area, she said.

Funding is always an issue in Tuba City, as it is throughout Indian Country.

"We're applying for grants," Bonar said. "It's hard for us to get them because people think we get all the funding we need from IHS."

In fact 60 percent of their funding comes from reimbursements by private insurance companies, Bonar said. Most of that goes toward pay and benefits for the nearly 900 employees at TCRHCC, she said.

They can't just depend on funding from the IHS, she said. In determining Tuba City's funding level, IHS is still using numbers from 1998, she explained.