Health Care Heroes (5841) 

Bear Lake Memorial Hospital integral to community

Bear Lake Memorial Hospital is one of those few rural hospitals that can boast of healthy profit margins while spending the bulk of its health-care dollars locally and providing millions of dollars in indigent health care.
“We’re a frontier community with a low population and the second lowest income per capita in the state,” said Elisabeth Sharrai, spokesman for Bear Lake Valley Health Care Foundation and award nominator.
According to Sharrai, the hospital spends more than $2 million annually in indigent health care, including a variety of health screenings offered to senior citizens free at annual health fairs. Almost 500 seniors have taken advantage of these screenings so far this year, with savings ranging from $600-$800 per person.
Acts of kindness can be credited for the hospital’s tremendous success in the community. Last year, a former pharmacist, looking to help a dialysis patient in desperate need of medication, sent his wife on the 80-mile trip to Pocatello to obtain the medicine. Sharrai said the patient was so moved by this service that he funded a building and first-year operation of a dialysis center at the hospital.
“If there is one thing that distinguishes BLMH from other hospitals our size it has to be the amount of volunteer assistance we get and the funding we receive through donations and grants,” said Rod Jacobsen, hospital administrator. “That kind of support translates into support for our services as well. When people donate to a cause, they typically also use it.”
That, said Jacobsen, is a big reason why 60 percent of the money Bear Lake residents spend on hospital-related services is at BLMH. Typically, small rural hospitals capture only 30-50 percent, he said.
The hospital opened a state-of-the-art residents’ wing for Bear Lake Memorial’s Skilled Nursing Facility in January, Sharrai noted. “Nearly half of the $2.4 million cost for this dream home came from community contributions through the Bear Lake Valley Health Care Foundation,” she said.
And the hospital continues to give back to the community it serves.
“Kim Hulme, the hospital librarian, has single-handedly saved low-income Valley residents $750,000 in the past two years by enrolling them in various pharmaceutical companies’ Patient Assistance programs,” said Sharrai.
One such patient was paying about $2,400 a month in co-pays for prescriptions, she said. Today he receives his life-saving prescriptions at no cost.
As the largest employer in Bear Lake County, the hospital works with the local chamber of commerce to increase tourism and jobs in the area, Sharrai said. “The Valley’s economy is being revitalized.”

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