Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
A District 2 candidate for Quay County Commission is advocating turning part of Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari into a drug rehabilitation center — to the skepticism of officials and his incumbent opponent.
David Holman, a Libertarian candidate who lives in Tucumcari, is running against incumbent Republican Jerri Rush of Forrest for the position.
In a Facebook post on his candidate page, Holman wrote last month: “Turning 1/3 of the beds at Trigg into a contract rehab center would bring in enough revenue to upgrade the rest of the hospital in to a true acute care facility, and maybe a level 3 trauma center. Vote for me. I’ll do my best to make it happen.”
Quay County manager Daniel Zamora said he doubted such an arrangement with the hospital’s tenant, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, is possible.
“I do not believe that Presbyterian offers those types of services,” he said. “So without changing operators or something to that effect, I’m not sure how that would how that would work.”
“I’d entertain any idea of how to increase efficiencies or increase revenue at the hospital,” Zamora added. “But that’s a that’s a decision for the operator to make. We lease the hospital to the operator, and they handle operations. We’re not hospital experts.”
Zamora said once a new Trigg Memorial Hospital is built, perhaps the old facility could be used for drug rehab.
“But we’ve never had any discussions about that,” he said, adding that Clovis is set to build a regional behavioral health facility in the coming years.
Zamora said he said he believes the old hospital facility would be better suited as a nursing home.
Vickie Gutierrez, chief executive at Trigg, in an email to the Quay County Sun acknowledged a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services at the hospital but added: “Shifting our services to a rehab facility is not something we are considering. It would not meet the needs of our community and is not possible due to state regulations and our hospital license.”
Rush also voiced skepticism of Holman’s idea, noting the nearly 60-year-old facility is beset with electrical, sewer and climate-control problems.
“I can tell you that there is a lot of work that needs to be done to that building if it’s going to be rehabilitated,” she said. “We have an extensive study that shows we need to build a new building. It’s not just the number of beds and those things.”
“I guess I feel like Mr. Holman just isn’t aware of all of the issues that we’re facing with the hospital,” Rush added. “I do not support his proposal.”
After being informed of Zamora’s and Rush’s skepticism, Holman acknowledged his hospital plan might not be feasible. But he said he would continue to bring up ideas.
“If it can’t happen, it can’t happen,” he said. “But the fact is, the hospital is badly underutilized. I don’t really believe in ‘can’t,’ OK? You know, it might be difficult. It might not even be a good idea, but people got to come up with new ideas, you know?”
When informed Zamora was considering the old hospital as a nursing home after the new hospital is built, Holman said he’d be in favor of that.
“That’s another need here that we don’t have,” he said. “Yeah, an assisted living or something like that would be great.”
Holman mailed flyers claiming that local economic development and job creation are being “stalled” by Quay County government.
“They don’t seem to be interested in creative new things,” he said. “The problem with incumbents everywhere is there’s a great pressure to just keep doing what you’re doing. And if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting, which is the town is in decline one more time.”
Whether Holman can be elected so he can act on his ideas remains a question.
Quay County Clerk Ellen White, who has worked in that office since 1998, said she’s unaware of any Libertarian candidate winning a local office.
She said only 41 voters are registered as Libertarians of almost 5,500 in the county.
Holman, who said he was “a Reagan Republican” until becoming a Libertarian about 30 years ago, acknowledged that candidates such as him have a tough road to win a general election.
“No, we don’t win a lot,” he said. “I don’t have high expectations for this one. I think it’s important that nobody runs unopposed.”
District 2 in the county commission encompasses much of the southwestern part of the county and the caprock.
Early voting in the election begins on Oct. 8, with Election Day on Nov. 5.