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The History of Harms in American Falls
In the early 1900s, German Mennonite settlers from
Kansas and Oklahoma moved into the American Falls and Aberdeen area
seeking new homesteading opportunities. As the Mennonites established
communities throughout the American west, they generally developed schools
and hospitals to support their humanitarian mission. Even though they were
based in Aberdeen, American Falls was selected as the ideal site for a new
hospital due to its proximity to the railroad.
The first Mennonite hospital had been built in
Goessel, Kansas, in 1889. The effort to build a facility in American Falls
began in earnest in 1910, with financial support coming from Mennonite
churches in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Oklahoma.
The Bethany Hospital and Deaconess Home was opened in temporary
quarters in October of 1912. There were 11 rooms furnished by churches,
societies or individuals. An article in the American Falls Press,
dated October 13, 1912, stated “the operating rooms are equipped with
the most modern surgical appliances and it will be needless for surgical
cases to go elsewhere. Dr. Noth will be the house physician, but inmates
will be allowed their choice of physicians. Sister Wedel comes here from
Beatrice, Nebraska, and brings credentials of the highest kind from
physicians who were familiar with her work and the hospital there.” In
fact, many of the nurses came from the Bethany Deaconess Hospital in
Newton, Kansas, as part of their mission work.
The foundation for the permanent hospital had been
completed in what we now call “Old Town” by the fall of 1912. However,
it was then that the Government announced plans to construct a dam on the
Snake River for irrigation purposes which, if built, would submerge the
town under water. So it was decided to discontinue work there and locate
at a different site further from the river. The new hospital building,
although still considered temporary, was completed in the winter of 1914.
For the next ten years, the hospital struggled to
keep its doors open, constantly threatened by looming financial deficits.
Both Power and Bingham Counties, and the American Falls Chamber of
Commerce, helped support the Home through monthly contributions which
prevented its demise.
In 1925, construction of the American Falls Dam was
begun and it was dedicated on September 26, 1927.
During that time, the entire “Old Town” was abandoned, with
many buildings being moved up the hill to the “Reclamation Site”. It
had been determined that it was not economically feasible to move the hospital.
The United States Reclamation Service paid the Mennonite Church $19,000
for the old hospital. Since the ground for the new hospital had been
donated to the church, these funds were sent to the Mennonite General
Conference to be directed to new hospital projects in India and China.
Ground was broken for a new
Bethany Deaconess Hospital on
September 16, 1926 a few lots north of the courthouse on the Pocatello
Highway. (The building today is used by the American Falls youth Center). The new facility, which cost $30,000, featured 42 rooms and would
accommodate 21 patients. “Large corridors, a fine heating plant, ample
closet room, a large dining room, a garage, and numerous store rooms lend
every facility for conducting the hospital in an economical and efficient
manner”, reported the American Fall Press. The project was
sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and was under the direction of Dr.
Clarence F. Schiltz, for whom the new facility was named. Dr. Schiltz
served the community from 1916 to 1932. Management of the Hospital was
vested in a Board of Trustees, all of whom were Mennonites.
The Bethany Deaconess sisters continued to operate
Schilz Memorial Hospital through the mid 1930s, until they were recalled
by their church to Goessel, Kansas. At
that time, operation of the facility was turned over to the Power County
Commissioners. The hospital has been a county owned facility ever since.
In March of 1958, the Idaho State Board of Health
gave the County Commissioners until Dec 31, 1959, to either renovate the
existing hospital or build a new facility. State officials said that
Schiltz Memorial failed to meet medical and safety requirements and if they
weren’t corrected the license for the hospital would be withdrawn in 18
months. It was determined that the cost of renovation would be
prohibitive, so plans were made to build a new facility at its present
location on Roosevelt Ave. County taxpayers overwhelmingly approved a bond
issue for $200,000, representing half the cost of the project. The balance
would be financed through a Federal program known as Hill-Burton.
Construction began on March 3, 1960 and the dedication of the new
Power County Hospital and Nursing Home was held April of 1961.
The original configuration of the Power County
Hospital allowed for 18 nursing home beds and 16 hospital beds, with room
to expand to 60 beds. The Power County Press reported on April 6,
1961: “The advanced design of the building has many unique and unusual
features, but perhaps the most different is the heating system. All
heating will come from electrical wiring woven into the ceilings of the
rooms and small radiation boxes in the hallways. It is probably the only
hospital in the West heated entirely by electricity”.
In the early 1980s, the name of the hospital was
changed to Harms Memorial Hospital, in honor of Dr. Frank Harms who served
the area for forty years, from 1940 through 1980. The Aberdeen
Times reported that during his tenure, he delivered nearly 3000
babies.
All through the 1980s and into the 1990s, the
hospital struggled financially. The Harms Memorial Hospital District was
created by the County Commissioners in 1986 in order to provide for
financial support through the ability to tax county property owners.
In 1999, the hospital earned a designation of Critical Access
Hospital under a new Federal program to support rural healthcare. That,
along with the success of Dr. Sherwin D’Souza’s practice at the family
clinic and the support of County taxpayers, resolved the financial issues
to the point where the Board of Trustees was able to proceed with plans
which had been under consideration for some time, to build a new facility.
The Harms Family Clinic
became a department of the hospital in 1998 when it was purchased from Dr.
Lee. It
moved with Dr. D’Souza to
its present location on Idaho Street in 2000.
In 2002, the hospital
purchased a mobile classroom building from the School District. The
building was moved to the corner of Roosevelt and Gifford and became the
new home of the Harms Physical Therapy Department.
In 2003, the hospital purchased a 25 acre parcel west
of town on the Frontage Road near the new American Falls High School. Long
range plans were developed to build a new medical campus at the site in
the future.
Harms Memorial Hospital and the Power County Nursing
Home, and its predecessors, have been providing quality healthcare
services to the residents of Power County and Aberdeen since 1912.
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Dr.
Frank Harms served Power County for 40 Years
Dr. Frank Harms, son of a doctor, was
born in Cordell, Oklahoma in 1914. He began his medical training at Bethel
College in North Newton, Kansas, and earned his medical degree at the
University of Oklahoma, serving his internship at Good Samaritan Hospital
in Portland. He began his medical career as a family practitioner in 1940,
when he moved to Aberdeen and served with Dr. MacKennon. He and his wife,
Lois Kliewer, moved to American Falls in 1953.
Both Dr. Harms and Lois were very active
in community affairs. He was charter President of the American Falls
Rotary Club and was active in Boy Scouts, school athletics and blood
drives. Lois was a charter member of the Hospital Auxiliary and President
of both the Southeast Idaho Medical Association and the Idaho Medical
Association. The Harms' were active members of the First Mennonite Church
in Aberdeen.
Dr. Harms was forced to retire in 1980
after suffering a mild heart attack. soon after his retirement, the Power
county Hospital was renamed Harms Memorial in his honor.
Dr. Harms died March 28, 1981, of a
heart attack while visiting friends in Colorado Springs.
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