Elbowoods Memorial Health Care facility included in '09 appropriations
Elbowoods Memorial Health Care facility included in ‘09 appropriations
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
A wait of six decades is finally over for residents of the Fort Berthold Reservation.
President Barack Obama signed into law last week the FY ‘09 Omnibus Appropriations Act that includes $17 million for the construction of the new Elbowoods Memorial Health Care facility. The building will be located north of Fort Berthold Community College in New Town.
“It’s an historic event and the people have waited 58 years for this,” said project manager Jim Foote. “We’re ecstatic.”
Foote expects groundbreaking to take place sometime early this summer with a target completion date of February 2011. He has been working on this project five years and got the news Friday that the president signed the appropriations bill.
“A lot have given up on this,” Foote said. “I commend the city of New Town. They didn’t give up. It’s been a team effort.”
According to Foote, there has been some misconception the facility will be a hospital, but that isn’t the case. He said the building will largely be designed for preventative medicine, but will include 24-hour ambulatory services.
