USDA Rural Development Presents Tri-County Hospital and Fair Oaks Lodge with $8.2 Million

$3.5 million for Tri-County; $4.7 million for Fair Oaks will fund expansion projects

  WADENA, Minn. July 26 – Steve Wenzel, State Director of Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), visited Wadena today to present checks to the Tri-County Hospital and Fair Oaks Lodge, Inc.

      USDA Rural Development recently awarded Tri-County Hospital a $3.5 million guaranteed loan and Fair Oaks Lodge, Inc. a $4.7 million low-interest direct loan. Since 2001, USDA Rural Development has provided over $15 million to Tri-County Hospital and Fair Oaks Lodge.

      The recent round of funding for Tri-County Hospital will cover costs of changes in scope of the hospital’s ongoing expansion and renovation project. USDA Rural Development funded the initial expansion project in 2002 with a $5 million direct loan and a $1.75 guaranteed loan. The scope increase and subsequent USDA Rural Development funding will allow the hospital to complete renovation of the entire facility. The hospital also received a $500,000 USDA Rural Development grant in 2001 for telemedicine technology.

        “President George W. Bush has made funding rural healthcare facilities a priority of his administration,” Wenzel said. “The President, through his leadership, has funded rural healthcare facilities like Tri-County Hospital through the 2002 U.S. Farm Bill. The Tri County Hospital has demonstrated superb leadership and is a model for rural hospitals everywhere.”

        USDA Rural Development’s recent $4.7 million low-interest loan to Fair Oaks Lodge, Inc. is for the purchase of a nursing home from Todd and Wadena counties. Fair Oaks Lodge, Inc. is a non-profit corporation created by Tri-County Hospital for the purchase of the nursing home.

            “This funding ensures quality care for area residents for many years to come,” Wenzel said. “Again, I want to commend the local leadership involved in this project for having the vision and initiative to see this project through its completion.

Since 2001, USDA Rural Development has invested over $2.1 billion throughout Minnesota . The agency has funding available for housing, clean water, healthcare facilities, high-speed Internet and other infrastructure needs.