Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital

ELY-BLOOMENSON COMMUNITYHOSPITAL WHAT: A critical access community hospital WHERE: Ely, Minnesota WEBSITE: www.ebch.org I n the mid-1950s, Dr. H.N. Sutherland, a local phy- sician in the small town of Ely, Minnesota, chal- lenged the people of his community with a dream for a new hospital. Mr. Abe Bloomenson, an Elyite who had moved to Duluth, and wanted to do some- thing for his hometown, made a gift of $100,000, which became the seed money for a $550,000 bond issue that the town’s citizens passed for the hospital’s construction. In gratitude, the new facility was named the Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital (EBCH), which opened its doors on February 22, 1958. “Ely is primarily a logging, mining and tourism community, and most of the furnishings and the rest of the funds were raised by the community mem- bers through the sale of hundred-dollar shares,” says EBCH Marketing and Communications Team Leader, Jodi Martin. “A community member could become a share- holder for $100 and we still have that process going on, today. That gets you a vote at our annual meeting, which helps to elect our Board of Directors.” “As a critical access hospital, we have all the services of a community hospital,” explains Hospital CEO, Michael Coyle. “We have a full-time general surgeon; we have an orthopedic surgeon; we do home health; we have a 24/7 emer- gency room; a swing bed program (for patients no longer requiring acute care hospitalization, but still in need of additional therapy before going home);