Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Aurora Hospital on its way

According to a source, the Aurora Hospital will soon be built in the burgeoning Aurora Medical Park on Grand Forks' south side. Forget about the fact that the Grand Forks City Council declined to grant them a tax break a few months back. Apparently, the Aurora group decided that their inability to secure a tax break from the city wasn't a good reason to scrap their plans.

When Aurora representatives made statements about having to "go back to the drawing board" after the tax break was voted down, I had a very hard time believing that the council's decision would really cancel the plans that the Aurora group had been crafting. I would expect to hear some concrete plans about construction of the new hospital in the near future. Stay tuned.

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

GOOD! I recently left Altru for Aurora and didn't like the fact that I had to go to Altru to see a surgeon.

Anonymous said...

This is good. I am happy with Altru, but this will bring REAL jobs into the community -- not fast food jobs or retail jobs, but high paying jobs.

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see how these guys practice medicine when they own the hospital. If you really believe they want to open a hospital so they can practice medicine the way they want to-I'll sell you a bridge. It's all about profit for the "Board of Governors" at Aurora who are NOT represented by members of the community but by the guys who own practices there and whose main mission is to make a lot of money. Let's talk in a few years after people have had a chance to see how the care is-and how many not for profit services you will find there.

Anonymous said...

I believe Aurora will have a tough time filling skilled and MD positions. I took my mom to see an Ear, Nose and Throat MD at GF Clinic last week and was told two of their four ENT positions were empty because they couldn't find anyone to move to ND. They are using retired doctors to rotate through the positions. The southern gentleman doctor she had missed several things and admitted he hadn't read her chart before the appt. Yikes.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many doctors actually read any patients charts before an appointment. I doubt there are many.

Anonymous said...

If they actually read charts, I wouldnt have to tell them every single time what drugs Im allergic to eventhough Ive seen the big orange stickers on my chart

Anonymous said...

I don't think that it honestly bring REAL jobs to the community; of the new hires at the Aurora clinic from outside of the region - I count less than 5... the remaining hires were existing area physicians, nurses, staff that were recruited away from their existing employers in our GF region. Job shifting does not mean new economic development.

Anonymous said...

"I believe Aurora will have a tough time filling skilled and MD positions. I took my mom to see an Ear, Nose and Throat MD at GF Clinic last week and was told two of their four ENT positions were empty because they couldn't find anyone to move to ND. They are using retired doctors to rotate through the positions. "

---Brings back memories of a few years back when the OB-GYN's all went on vacation at the same time. (I am serious!) My wife was experiencing some medical problems at the time, and there was a constant rotation of female-care doctors from out of the area at the Altru clinic. One, an Army doc, who was filling in, wanted to give her a hysterectomy the next day...another, well...a whole other difficult story. I'll just say he was less than professional, causing my wife to experience an exam she didn't reveal until a couple of years later. (Had I known at the time, you can bet there would have been some complaints.)

To this day, it remains a sore spot.

Anonymous said...

www.rottenneighbor.com

Saw this on FOX News this morning and checked it out. Too funny. Grand Forks, so far, only has 1 "rotten neighbor" listed. I looked at some of the bigger cities in the country and it's hilarious what some people will complain about.

Anonymous said...

Is Aurora really building or is someone reading the usual job openings at Stadter/Aurora that state "due to an upcoming expansion we are hiring..."?

That phrase has become a joke among healthcare workers who know what the place is really like on the inside.

Anonymous said...

Why is it a joke? What's it really like on the inside?? I love Aurora.

Anonymous said...

Go to work there and get back to us.

Anonymous said...

Anyone remember the press on Stadter regarding the misuse of medications? Seems to me that was a pretty big deal a year or so back.

I remember thinking I'd not want anyone in my family to simply be medicated into thinking they were healthy, when in reality, little else was being done.

Or am I way off base with that?

Anonymous said...

No you are not. Check the ND Board of Medical Examiners site for Thomas Peterson-CEO of Aurora. You will find disciplinary action listed. They had some serious violations a few years ago for safety with patients, medication use etc. I'm not sure if they are now able to admit all populations to the hospital now but for a while they were limited (self or by the state, I don't know) to treating certain groups.

Anonymous said...

So I should go work at Aurora to find out what it's really like?? If that's what anonymous meant by posting it then that leads me to believe that they don't know anything about Aurora. Am I really going to go work there to get the "inside scoop"? Nope. If someone really knows information about Aurora that everyone else doesn't they should come out with it instead of telling someone to go work there when they know that's not going to happen.

Anonymous said...

The disciplinary action that the Stadter Center was under is pretty normal for a healthcare facility that grew faster than expected and did not have enough experienced staff. I believe Innovis in Fargo had some problems when they opened years ago.

Anonymous said...

Altru pays MDs according to their own staff requiements. Aurora, if it's a private practice, can charge whatever they want. Therefore it will be easier to recruit doctors.

Anonymous said...

Not sure what you mean by "staff requirements". That says to me, if they have trouble filling a position they can raise their $$ offer to attract candidates. Is that right?

Anonymous said...

"The disciplinary action that the Stadter Center was under is pretty normal for a healthcare facility that grew faster than expected and did not have enough experienced staff. I believe Innovis in Fargo had some problems when they opened years ago."

So that excuses it?

C'mon; we're talking human beings, here.

Growing problems are what we deal with in our children; adults---especially those in a growing medical facility---shouldn't make such blunders.

Good grief.

Anonymous said...

I agree. It's not like we're concerned about the beer lines at the Alerus. If the state health department cites serious violations-you can be sure it is serious and to attribute them to "growing pains" is a pretty
flimsy excuse. It is a well known fact that when Stadter opened they had staff providing cares outside of their scope of practice just to save money. And those who didn't were shown the door. I hope they have better staffing if they do open a new hospital for safety sake.

Anonymous said...

I for one think the Stadter is a great hospital. Thats not to say it doesn't have problems. Altru does too but the paper doesn't print ALL their problems like it does for Stadter, Aurora, or about Dr. Peterson who is also a great Dr. Lets not forget what he has brought to htis community.

Anonymous said...

Please.
Share with us what this great man has brought to "htis" community.


*yawn*

Anonymous said...

what about all the people he helps at the stadter, where would they go if he didn't start this facility

Anonymous said...

I think Grand Forks needs to open their eyes and quit keeping new business from coming into the city. You can't control everything

Anonymous said...

I agree that Grand forks, along with North Dakota in general needs to wake up and allow more opportunities to the area. People who live here are always saying how great Grand forks is and price of living is low, need to go to other cities and see what we're missing. If you compare you'll see we are behind and prices, houses, and taxes are lower in bigger cities. And they wonder why so many people are leaving the area. Who wants to live where people try to stop a hospital. what does a hospital do but HELP people, why stop that??????

Anonymous said...

Sure enough sounds like some Stadter clients utilizing this blog.

Anonymous said...

No, I think greenglass stopped blogging here :)

Anonymous said...

Well just so everyone knows, Im not a Stadter client or an employee

Anonymous said...

"Who wants to live where people try to stop a hospital. what does a hospital do but HELP people, why stop that??????"


Welcome to the 21st Century in America. Hospitals are businesses, in the business of making money.

Anonymous said...

And the old money here in Grand Forks is afraid to lose any of their money so they keep anything new from coming in!

Anonymous said...

That old money is what built this town years ago. The local business people who paid decent wages with benefits so a man or woman could support a family and maybe even work for the same business for 25-35 years are slowly being driven out by the franchised companies that often pay minimum wage and no benefits. Too bad we can't have both.

Anonymous said...

Are they taking bids from local contractors or only out of Fargo like they did before? I heard Christianson, (the guy out of Fargo who is the real money behind the projects at Aurora) stiffed some local contractors who got small bids on the first building. So much for generating local jobs.

Anonymous said...

So because somebody wants to invest millions and millions of dollars into GF we shouldn't take it because they live in Fargo? You have to realize that NEW dollars in a town don't come from the people that already live there. The people will be working and living locally, therefore they are local jobs. And prior anon, yes, "old money" built this town, and both old and "new money" will continue to build this town. Be it national chains or hospitals for profit, that is the trend across the nation, not just here.

Anonymous said...

My point was...people keep talking about how many local jobs a new hospital will create. And my point again is if they start out by hiring out of town contractors, this is NOT generating local jobs for the construction phase. So the "new dollars" from the construction employees would come from what-pop purchases at Valley Dairy?

Anonymous said...

Overall I think the point is that Grand forks needs to quit trying to control what comes into town so that the city can grow and be a place where people (old and new) will want to stay. Because Too many people are moving and those that are not yet want to.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that we don't get the "chains" here? If we do we're the last city in the state to get the "chain". I think it's because the locals of Grand forks don't want the competition.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that we don't get the "chains" here? If we do we're the last city in the state to get the "chain". I think it's because the locals of Grand forks don't want the competition.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that we don't get the "chains" here? If we do we're the last city in the state to get the "chain". I think it's because the locals of Grand forks don't want the competition.

Anonymous said...

sorry about the repeats, whoops!!

Anonymous said...

I certainly don't think we are always the last town to get "chains" in the state. For many years (and still to some extent) we got things before Bismarck, and especially Minot. The fact is that Bismarck/Mandan has experienced a boom in population and retail in the last few years. I can think of lots of chains that set up shop here before there, and Minot (Best Buy, Culvers, Golden Corral, Old Navy, Gordmans, and the list goes on). Just like I can think of several that set up there before here, and some that we as of yet don't have. Only time and demand will tell if we get those chains also.

river man said...

Where do I begin? First, its great so see Grand Forks growing. From what I know, Furniture Row brought some good jobs and opportunities, a better and more affordable selection of furniture. Although I haven't been to Texas Roadhouse yet, from what I know they brought great food and great service to our community. Ashley Furniture also brought some great jobs and a good selection of furniture. Lowes, a few years ago, brought some OK jobs and competition for Menards and other local hardwhare stores. This is good to see. But I haven't seen any established homegrown businesses expand or local entrepreneurial growth in town unless they have escaped my attention. Although I haven't worked there, I wonder about the quality of jobs that Texas Roadhouse, Lowes and a few other buesinesses brought to town.
Does anybody no of any of their pay rates and/or benefits, and the work culture of these places?

Anonymous said...

river man - you are focusing on the wrong segment of the economy... think about all of the jobs LM, Cirrus, Amazon, SEI, EERC, and others have brought in the last 3-5 years. Those are the real growth indicators, the jobs that for some pay enough to bring people into town. EERC is a great example of home-grown jobs that pay very well for the area. Most of the places you cited pay around $7-10 an hour, which is not a living wage for most. The manufacturing and other jobs pay much more to start ($10-15/hr.) plus benefits in many cases.

Anonymous said...

Exactly...back to the Aurora which would bring in money that people can live on. And in general bring people into Grand Forks instead of Grand forks keeping people out. And give people a choice!!!

river man said...

Well, I overlooked those areas, those manufacturing jobs, and the potential of what the proposed Aurora hospital can bring in. Thanks for mentioning those, sometimes I miss some things. But I wouldn't say I was looking at the wrong area of the economy, I just wasn't looking at the whole picture and all those details that make up our local economic picture.

I don't know all the nuts and bolts of how economies work, but I do what I can to learn how they work. I know of supply and demand, taxes, business profits and expenses, competition and a few other things. It would be interesting for me to study up on economics on my own time, or to take a couple classes on it. But its my opinion something and somehow our nation needs to fix or eliminate the minunum wage and give the working poor and other labor class people a living wage. There must be some way to make that work in our local economies and national economy. But I'm also aware somewhat of other nation economies and th larger global economies.

Anonymous said...

I am not quite understanding why everyone is so negative about the new hospital. One of the arguments I saw was that it will not bring new jobs to the area - neither would NOT builing a new hospital, right? At least we will have a choice now when it comes to healthcare. Yes, a hospital is a business just as a restaurant is, but I don't see anybody opposing new restaurants coming to town.
Addressing one more issue I have read on this website - of course the new hospital might have problems with staffing in the beginning, just as any other business might, but nobody would invest money if they didn't do a market research in the area and weren't sure that their plan is achievable.

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