New hospital and clinics open in Cottage Grove
 On Oct. 7, 2003, the new Cottage Grove Hospital and Clinics opened at 1515 Village Drive, just off Interstate 5 at the main Cottage Grove exit (Exit 174). The $12.7 million, 40,000-square-foot facility includes
11 beds, an emergency department, a complete lab, a radiology department and clinic space for the physicians of South Lane Medical
Group, all under one roof and easily accessed from a spacious main lobby. The facility features the latest in
digital technology.
This latest chapter in the history of Cottage Grove’s hospital began in 2000, when the community governing boards of Cottage Grove Community Hospital and PeaceHealth Oregon Region decided that the time had come to replace the community’s original hospital, built in 1951, with a modern facility that could grow with the community. But the story really started in August 1998, when the small hospital in Cottage Grove declared bankruptcy and closed its doors. About a year later it reopened, after the community partnered with PeaceHealth and committed to taking the steps necessary to ensure the future of health care in Cottage Grove. Getting there literally took an act of Congress. Shortly after the hospital’s closure in 1998, the community and PeaceHealth began to explore new legislation that designates a qualifying facility as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Through this designation the hospital would receive federal financial support in the form of higher Medicare payments. PeaceHealth was confident that if Cottage Grove’s hospital received this designation, the organization could not only reopen the hospital but improve it. With the support of a 250-member community organization called “Citizens Supporting Health Care,” PeaceHealth forged ahead to do everything possible to preserve a local hospital and clinic. However the CAH designation was limited to hospitals that were at least 35 miles from another hospital. With two hospitals in the Eugene-Springfield area closer than 35 miles, Cottage Grove was ineligible for CAH designation—unless the president of the United States signed legislation lowering the distance requirement to 20 miles. With crucial help from Oregon senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden, Congressman Peter DeFazio and others, Cottage Grove Community Hospital was granted the desired designation by President Clinton in November 1999. The facility reopened Dec. 15, 1999. In 2000, as PeaceHealth evaluated whether it could build a new hospital in Cottage Grove, the Lane-Douglas Healthcare Foundation began collecting donations to help. The foundation pledged $2.3 million for the new hospital. With the generosity and support of the community, they met that pledge. The new facility was designed by TBG Architects & Planners and built by John Hyland Construction, both of Eugene. "We're very proud of this new facility and what we've accomplished," hospital administrator Tim Herrmann told the Register-Guard newspaper. "This collective effort is a monument to the vision and tenacity of many, many people," added Jim Gant, president of the Lane-Douglas Healthcare Foundation. Digital technology means fast, clear results Access: The hospital is a fairly small facility with the benefit of access to the many specialists located in Eugene and Springfield. Staff takes advantage of this and often consults with a colleague at another hospital or clinic. With the use of the new digital imagery, the conversation can take place while both physicians refer to a high-resolution digital image. (The digital files are accessed through a secure network to ensure privacy.) Time: The digital system gets the necessary images in an instant. No development time is needed for film. Plus, the digital file can be accessed by a specialist miles away. That means a diagnosis can be made more quickly. Quality: Image quality has always been a challenge, even for the most adept technicians. The new system allows the user to work with a difficult image by zooming, cropping, brightening and so on. Images will be clearer for clinicians and patients alike, resulting in more precise assessment and diagnosis. A new teleradiology system
funded in part with a $500,000 grant from the U.S.D.A. Rural Utilities Service will expand the capabilities of the PACS system even further.
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