Carol Ostrow | Feb 16, 2017

One man unites many hands to save rural health

Rodney Nelson won the 2016 Rural Hospital Leadership Award for bringing an obsolete facility into the 21st century, obtaining logistical support and co-creating a new hospital with Native Americans, the American Hospital Association (AHA) announced recently.

The AHA honored Nelson at its 30th annual Rural Health Care Leadership Conference in Phoenix in front of a crowd gathered from more than 250 rural facilities and health care systems nationwide.

Nelson, who became president and CEO of the struggling St. Ignace, Michigan-based Mackinac Straits Health System in 1999, came up with innovative ways to simultaneously save the local rural hospital and fulfill the needs of the community.

Nelson’s story was unusual in that local Chippewas, who were as dissatisfied with existing health facilities as any residents, stepped up to donate a 16-acre land parcel to build a new hospital. In doing so, the Sault Ste. Marie tribe made a joint agreement with stakeholders to include a tribal health clinic within the facility, the AHA said.

With a starter loan from the federal government, plus private donations from the surrounding community, a two-story, 82,000-square-foot hospital valued at $1.2 million opened its doors in 2010, with state-of-the-art labs, imaging and care facilities.

“It took relationships with legislators in Washington, D.C., and in Lansing, Michigan, and the tribe and community and business leaders to bring this together,” Nelson said. “We try to set an example here. It’s a passion to do the right thing.”

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