Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center

Infobox Hospital
Name = Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center
Org/Group =

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Caption = Entrance and main building
Location =
Region = Alamogordo
State = New Mexico
Country = US
HealthCare = Medicare, Medicaid, Public
Type = General
Emergency = Level III trauma center
Beds = 99
Founded = 1949
Website = http://www.gcrmc.org/

Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center is a general hospital, owned and operated by the non-profit Otero County Hospital Association, that serves the Alamogordo, New Mexico area. It is the first military/civilian shared hospital facility in the United States.

GCRMC is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. [] It opened in 1949, and in 2008 it was the largest non-governmental employer in Alamogordo, with 650 employees.

ervices

hared military and civilian facility

With the opening of its new facility in 1999, GCRMC became the first hospital in the United States shared by active-duty military personnel and civilians.] Air Force physicians from Holloman Air Force Base are credentialed at the hospital to admit and treat Department of Defense beneficiaries. [] The Air Force contributed $7 million for equipment for the new hospital in 1998 and DoD patients will get substantial discounts at the hospital for 15 years, with a guaranteed recovery of $7 million within the first seven years. [] []

Medical services

The hospital is a Level III trauma center. [cite news
first = Susan Montoya
last = Bryan
title = Three trauma centers named
work = Alamogordo Daily News
page = 1A
date = 2007-12-20
id = oclc|10674593] It has 99 bedscite web |url=http://www.gcrmc.org/ |title=Gerald Champion Home Page |accessdate=2008-09-01 |publisher=Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center] on a 65-acre campus and facilities for MRI, CAT scan, dialysis, and sleep disorder studies, and has a medical laboratory on site. cite news
first = Monica M.
last = Brown
title = Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center: Third anniversary sees more changes, improvements
work = Alamogordo Daily News
page = 7A
date = 2002-11-15
id = oclc|10674593] A Southwest Med Evac air ambulance helicopter, stationed full time at the hospital, is used to transport patients from the mountain areas to GCRMC, and to transport patients from GCRMC to hospitals in El Paso, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque. [cite news
first = Alice Louise
last = Wagoner
title = After a year of flight rescue
work = Alamogordo Daily News
page = 2A
date = 2005-05-11
id = oclc|10674593]

The American Cancer Society operates a Cancer Resource Center at the hospital to provide pamphlets, information, prostheses, wigs, and hats for cancer patients and cancer survivors. []

Catering

The hospital's food and nutrition services department operates a catering service, Mountain View Catering, that caters both on-site and off-site events and provides food service at the nearby New Mexico State University Alamogordo campus. It has been so successful that 60% of the department's revenue comes from outside the hospital. [] []

History

Founding and early years

The Otero County Hospital Association was formed in 1946 to build a basic county hospital.cite book
last=Murphy
first=Dan
others=photo research by John O. Baxter
title=New Mexico, the distant land: an illustrated history
pages=166–167
edition=2000 edition
year=2000
publisher=American Historical Press
location=Sun Valley, CA
isbn=9781892724090] Gerald Champion Memorial Hospital was built at the corner of Tenth Street and Cuba Avenue in Alamogordo and was dedicated on Sunday, July 31, 1949cite news
first =
last =
title = Many Attend Hospital Dedication Ceremony
work = Alamogordo News
page = 1
date = 1949-08-04
id = oclc|10674593] and officially opened for business on Tuesday, August 2, with 24 beds. A number of additions and renovations were made to the facility over the years.

The hospital is named after Gerald D. Champion, a local businessman and civic leader who was chairman of the Otero County Hospital Association during the fund drive for the first building. [cite news
first =
last =
title = Hospital Named for Drive Head
work = Alamogordo News
page = 1
date = 1948-02-19
id = oclc|10674593] Champion died in a private airplane crash on February 3, 1948, during the fund drive.cite news
first =
last =
title = Exhaustive Search Reveals the Tragic Fate of Local Fliers
work = Alamogordo News
page = 1
date = 1948-02-12
id = oclc|10674593] In addition to chairing the fund drive, Champion was mayor of Tularosa, operated hardware and building supply stores in Alamogordo and in Tularosa, was chairman of the Central Committee of the state Republican Party, and was active in many civic groups.cite news
first =
last =
title = Champion Services Held Wednesday in Tularosa
work = Alamogordo News
pages = 1, 4
date = 1948-02-12
id = oclc|10674593]

Transition to regional medical center

The hospital moved to a new building on Scenic Drive near the New Mexico State University Alamogordo campus in 1999,cite news
first = Monica M.
last = Brown
title = Creation of old hospital brought community together
work = Alamogordo Daily News
pages = 1A, 2A
date = 2003-10-26
id = oclc|10674593] and changed its name to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center.cite news
first = Cheryl M.
last = Harris
title = New local hospital to keep old name
work = Alamogordo Daily News
page = 1
date = 1998-11-08
id = oclc|10674593] The original building remained vacant for several years and when no use could be found for it was torn down in 2003.cite news
first = Monica M.
last = Brown
title = Old hospital building on the way down
work = Alamogordo Daily News
pages = 1A, 3A
date = 2003-12-03
id = oclc|10674593]

The new building was constructed at 152,000 square feet at a construction cost of $25,841,000. It won "Building Design & Construction" magazine's Grand Award: Institutional in 2000. The program manager was American Health Facilities Development (a subsidiary of Quorum Health Resources), the architects were Collins Reisenbichler Architects (since merged with Perkins and Will), and the general contractor was Robins & Morton. []

Notes

Further reading

* Commemorative booklet that reprints newspaper stories from the early days and gives a snapshot of hospital services in 1998.