Successful stores on Main Street and well-kept homes and neighborhoods are just a few barometers of a community’s vibrancy. But another key indicator is how well its hospital and healthcare delivery system are doing.
On that point, the Tooele County community appears to be doing well. Since opening in 2002, Mountain West Medical Center has consistently striven to provide big-city healthcare services, and also be an involved community partner.
This was again made evident on Sept. 19 when the hospital hosted a community health event. Approximately 1,000 guests joined in for a fun run, lunch, health screenings, and to see the hospital’s new MAKOplasty robotic arm, which stole the show — especially with children. At a cost of nearly $1 million, the robot provides greater precision for orthopedic surgeons during hip and partial knee replacements.
Guests also toured several of Mountain West’s departments, including imaging, the women’s center and other key services which, since the hospital opened 13 years ago, have pushed healthcare here to new heights.
Less than 20 years ago, such heights were few to nonexistent. The area’s 50-year-old county hospital was often the subject of medical and financial uncertainty in the community. But that quickly changed after Mountain West Medical Center opened its 43-bed hospital with a broad range of inpatient and outpatient services, and many complex medical procedures — like the MAKO robot — that typically aren’t available beyond the Wasatch Front.
In fact, the new hospital, its doctors and staff, quickly established a benchmark of quality healthcare that is the envy of even larger, urban hospitals across Utah and elsewhere. Furthermore, the hospital has taken a leadership role to provide several preventative programs to educate and inspire citizens to make healthier lifestyle choices — despite potential risk to the hospital’s bottom line.
Mountain West Medical Center has certainly contributed to Tooele County’s vibrancy in the here and now, but probably in the future, too. Like in the 1990s when Tooele County was one of the fastest growing in the state, the county appears poised to see another big jump in population as the area’s lower housing and land costs attract more new residents.
If that occurs, and because nearly 50 percent of the county’s workforce currently drives to the Wasatch Front every day for a paycheck, the need to create more local jobs, diversify categories of industry and generate new tax revenues will take on even greater importance. Without striking a balance between rooftops and locally available jobs, governmental services will overly rely on homeowners to bear the costs.
Any economic development professional who knows their chops will tell you that a strong and respected hospital in a community can make a huge difference in enticing new business opportunities to an area. Company owners want their employees and families to have good medical care. And company owners want it for themselves and their families, too.
Because of Mountain West Medical Center, its physicians, staff and support employees, the Tooele County community has a strong and respected hospital that stands ready to serve residents and visitors, whether it be a simple visit to the ER or a complex, life-saving medical procedure.
When it comes to community vibrancy, Mountain West Medical Center is not only a major contributor, but a partner as well.