Sparrow Ionia Hospital Receives Additional Funding

IONIA, Mich. — The new $25 million Sparrow Ionia Hospital opened in June of this year, and has continued to receive financial support throughout its first few months of operation, thanks to the Ionia County Community Foundation’s (ICCF) impact grant to the Sparrow Ionia Hospital Foundation’s Capital Campaign. ICCF announced at the end of July that it has pledged $50,000 to the new hospital, which will be paid over the next five years.

“ICCF believes Ionia’s beautiful, new, state-of-the-art health care facility will be a tremendous asset to the county and surrounding areas,” said Jim McCarty, ICCF president, in a statement. “The new hospital has quickly become a source of community pride. Already, Sparrow Ionia Hospital is experiencing increased patient utilization. ICCF is delighted to pledge significant funds to this ongoing Capital Campaign to help support essential purchases beyond Sparrow’s initial $25 million investment.”

The LEED-certified facility itself is 65,000 square feet and sits on a 43-acre campus. There are 18 private inpatient rooms, 12 private emergency department rooms, and two operating rooms with eight pre-op and post-op rooms. The patients and those working in the hospital will be able to immediately recognize the improvements of the new hospital, as the operating rooms are now double the size of those in the previous facility and patient privacy has been transformed.

“In our old facility, we’re really crowded together,” said Peter Vestergaard, RN and director at the hospital, in a statement. “Really, when you look at it, we’re tripping over each other all the time. Before when someone was going into surgery while another patient was coming out of surgery, someone had to move to allow the other to pass. Now things will be able to run so much smoother.”

The grant from ICCF will be used to help with costs of the hospital improvements. Its $50,000 pledge brings the total Capital Campaign to a little more than $850,000. The Capital Campaign’s goal is to raise $1.2 million.

“ICCF has done it again — demonstrating that it cares deeply for those who reside and work in Ionia County by being a major donor toward the construction of the new Sparrow Ionia Hospital,” said Jason Eppler, president of the Sparrow Ionia Hospital Foundation, in a statement. “ICCF and its directors and donors recognize the role that modern health care plays in supporting the quality of life that we enjoy in Ionia County. On behalf of the Hospital Foundation, I sincerely thank ICCF for its generosity, vision and commitment to a healthy Ionia County.”