Grinnell Regional Medical Center

Grinnell Regional Medical Center
Exterior shot of Grinnell Regional Medical Center

Coordinates: 41°44′31″N 92°44′02″W / 41.742°N 92.734°W Grinnell Regional Medical Center (GRMC) is an 49-bed rural community hospital in Grinnell, Iowa.[1] GRMC is a private, nonprofit and non-tax supported medical center serving an estimated 40,000 residents in a six-county rural area of east-central Iowa. It is located at 210 Fourth Avenue, Grinnell, Iowa, US.

GRMC is licensed by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.[2] GRMC maintains an Area (Level III) trauma center.[3] In December 2010, GRMC was named a top rural hospital by the Leapfrog Group[4] in its annual class of top hospitals. GRMC was one of just 65 hospitals—from a field of nearly 1,200—to earn the designation.

Organization

Care System Medicare, Medicaid, Private, Charity

Hospital Type

Medicare Disproportionate Share hospital,[5] Tweener hospital,[6] rural community hospital.

Affiliations

History

The history of Grinnell Regional Medical Center officially begins with the merger of two hospitals in 1967. The story of Grinnell's hospitals begins in 1901 when Dr. P.E. Somers opened an eight-bed hospital in his home near the Grinnell College campus.

In 1919, two new hospitals, Grinnell Community Hospital and St. Francis Hospital, began a new era of medical care in the Grinnell area. Nearly 50 years later, these hospitals merged into what is now known as Grinnell Regional Medical Center.[7]

Services and Physician Specialties

The medical staff at Grinnell Regional Medical Center includes physicians and Advanced Practice providers (Nurse Practitioners, etc.) in family practice, emergency medicine, hospitalist, radiology, and general surgery. Additional services include:

Clinics

Grinnell Regional Medical Center operates five general practice medical clinics in Grinnell, Lynnville, Toledo, and Victor, Iowa. Postels Community Health Park in downtown Grinnell is an integrated therapies clinic offering acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, and oriental medicine. There is also an exercise center with equipment sized for children and youth, and the University of Iowa Healthcare Dialysis Center.

There are 13 clinics operated in the immediate area by medical professionals serving GRMC.

Grinnell Regional Public Health offers a free medical clinic, the Community Care Clinic, for persons who are uninsured or underinsured. This clinic is staffed by volunteer medical providers and public health staff. It is located at the Light Center for Community Health, 308 Fourth Avenue, Grinnell.

Integrated Medicine

In 1999, Poweshiek County, Iowa was selected for an international wellness consortium to study well communities and how to better integrate community health resources. In addition to Poweshiek County, the other communities were Chicago, Ill., Munich, Germany, and Bolzano, Italy. The study was to evaluate whether integrated medicine produced to traditional medicine alone.

Postels Community Health Park opened in 2001 at Broad Street and Commercial Avenue in downtown Grinnell. The healthcare providers located in the health park are also credentialed to provide care within the hospital. These include acupuncture, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, massage therapy, and oriental medicine, featured in a Sept. 2008 USA Today article.

GRMC recognizes the importance of the physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions in health and healing. In addition to the therapies listed above, GRMC operates two exercise facilities. The Paul W. Ahrens Fitness and Rehabilitation Center is located in the Ahrens Medical Arts Building on the GRMC campus. This facility provides a complete selection of cardio equipment, free weights, and weight machines. This facility is supervised by wellness staff and medical supervision for rehabilitation purposes.

GRMC's Fitness and Wellness Center also offers programs at Postels Community Health Park in downtown Grinnell including group fitness classes -- aerobics, yoga, kickboxing, Pilates, Spinning(tm), strength training, and Zumba.

GRMC provides training for its employees and area businesses in HeartMath,[9] a technique for stress and emotional management.

National Designations

Level 1 designation from the American College of Surgeons for bariatric weight-loss surgery.[10]

References

External links