Mission Statement:

Wallowa County Health Care District's mission is to provide premier health care in a professional, personalized environment for the residents and visitors of Wallowa County.

Wallowa Memorial Hospital

Wallowa Memorial Hospital is a 25 bed Critical Access Hospital which serves all of Wallowa County and surrounding areas. Together with the Wallowa Valley Care Center we employ over 150 local people.

Our History
The hospital in Enterprise was founded about 1918 as a private institution, operating out of the converted County High School building. In 1947 the Wallowa County Court took over operation of the Enterprise Hospital.

The people of Wallowa County, feeling that more adequate hospital facilities were necessary, built the present Wallowa Memorial Hospital with the aid of Federal Hill-Burton Funds at an approximate cost of $250,000 and officially opened it on December 1, 1950.

In the early 1960s a need was felt to make nursing home care available within Wallowa County. In 1965 an addition was added to the hospital for the purpose of creating a 32 bed Nursing Home. The final addition to the hospital was made in 1973 with the construction of the west wing.

In 1992 the Wallowa County Health Care District was created by a vote of its citizens. For a number of years the District Board of Directors has recognized the hospital needed to be drastically upgraded. This understanding was driven by the age of the facility (opened in 1950), more emphasis on outpatient services, advancing medical technology, and the need to add new services. The Oregon Rural Health Association sponsored a facility evaluation in November 2002. Many departments and systems received low ratings compared to current physical plant standards. The report also underscored the very low efficiency of the current design and layout. The current facility cannot feasibly be added onto or upgraded anymore. The report recommended replacement of the hospital on a different site as the most desirable option for modernization.

After financial and new facility feasibility studies were completed by independent consultants to verify the ability and reasonableness of undertaking a new hospital project the District Board of Directors, elected by the voters of Wallowa County made the decision to go ahead with the project. An appropriate land site was located and purchased. The Board has taken the position that any new construction must not depend on new taxes. The initial plan is to fund the new hospital construction with grants, donations, business revenue, and a commercial bank loan guaranteed by the USDA. Our Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status under Medicare provides additional payments to the District for investments in new building, equipment and interest charges on borrowed funds, based on the percentage of Medicare and Medicaid patients using the Hospital. These payments come directly from the Federal government and do not increase the amounts paid by patients. In addition the new hospital will be more efficient and require fewer repairs which will save a substantial amount annually. There are a number of potential repayment sources, revenue enhancements and costs savings to meet the loan repayment requirement.

A Construction Manager/General Contractor was selected. Skanska USA Building oversaw the construction. Construction began in the spring of 2005 and was completed in March of 2007.  View construction photos here.