Eagle Nest seeks to build hospital
Similar in size to Holy Cross, proposed facility would serve large area
Eagle Nest, which has never had a medical clinic of any kind, may be in line for the kind of development that would transform the village, if Mayor Jeff Carr’s proposal to build a new hospital gains more traction.
Carr is optimistic that the village’s population of 315 residents could see their resident population and workforce numbers increase significantly with the construction of a proposed 25-bed critical access hospital, along with the associated workforce housing and daycare infrastructure that would be necessary.
Eagle Nest has been trying to secure funding for a small medical clinic for approximately the past six years, but Carr has taken a different tack after he realized that the village is more likely to qualify for state and federal funding to create a medical center with a full suite of services, including behavioral health, surgical, intensive care, dental and emergency care.
“It will be a little smaller than Holy Cross Medical Center,” which employs hundreds of people and is also designated a critical access hospital, Carr said. “It would be right next to the [Eagle Nest] Elementary-Middle School. We’re still in the planning stages, but we’ve done a couple of town halls and we’ve partnered up with the Cimarron School District. We’ve got the support of the Colfax County Commission, Red River, and [District 8] NM Sen. Pete Campos sent us a letter of support.”
The proposed hospital would be within the South Central Colfax County Special Hospital District, which has a five-member board of trustees and mill levy capabilities, Carr noted. The district, which was formed in 1986, doesn’t have a hospital. It consists of a 33-bed long term care nursing facility, a laboratory that serves all of Colfax County and two medical clinics in Cimarron and Angel Fire.
Tim Montgomery, CEO of the hospital district, did not return a message left seeking comment.
But the Eagle Nest medical center proposal has the support of James Kiser, interim CEO of Holy Cross. He said that a new medical facility would benefit the Taos hospital’s service area.
“Currently, Holy Cross Medical Center is full [of] Med/Surg, ICU and emergency department” patients, Kiser noted. “Holy Cross’ catchment area is over 36,000 residents of Taos County and the surrounding area. Holy Cross would not be threatened by this initiative” in Eagle Nest.
“As [Carr] mentioned,” said Kiser, who met with some of the officials advocating for the Eagle Nest hospital, “if it keeps one more bed available for Taos Hospital, then it will be of benefit.”
Carr said he’s also reached out to the state’s congressional delegation, but without more study and documentation, its members are holding off on endorsing the project at this stage. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s office told the Taos News this week that Sen. Heinrich is “aware of the need for rural health care access and is working on strategies to meet that need across the state every day.”
Thanks to the booming oil patch in southeastern New Mexico, the state has an unprecedented $3.6 billion budget surplus, a windfall that Carr said “equals the amount of the state’s entire budget around 10 years ago,” and which coincides with a flood of available federal infrastructure funds.
During a remotely-held meeting of the Enchanted Circle Intergovernmental Council on Monday (Dec. 19), Carr told District 6 state Sen. Bobby Gonzales that the price tag for the new hospital building alone — construction of which he hopes will begin in 2-4 years — would likely be around $33 million. That’s far more than the amount of a typical capital outlay appropriation from the New Mexico Legislature.
“Capital outlay — $50,000$100,000 — would be more for planning, a feasibility study, engineering,” Carr said. “We could get a big bulk of the money from the governor’s office, too. It was the governor’s office that provided $1 million for the new long term care facility in Springer.”
“Anytime you [request funding for] medical services, you can’t argue with that,” Gonzales responded, offering to meet with Campos and facilitate a meeting with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Still, the Taos senator acknowledged the amount of money was exceptionally large, adding, in jest, that “I didn’t even cough” when Carr stated the large dollar amount Eagle Nest is seeking.
“The governor said the legislative priorities this year are crime, healthcare and housing, so we’re doing two of those,” Carr said. “It would transform Eagle Nest, improve the quality of life and make some changes, hopefully, in a good way. We want to be sure we’re not affecting anyone in a negative way.”
The service area for the proposed hospital would include Cimarron and the Philmont Scout Ranch, Red River, Angel Fire and all of the Moreno Valley, where the year-round population is not very large, but becomes periodically swollen with skiers, fishermen, campers and hikers and other visitors throughout the year.
“Nelson Mandella said everything seems impossible — until you do it,” Carr said. “You certainly don’t get it done if you don’t try.”