Groundbreaking ceremony held for new Tri-County Hospital

Joel Beiswenger, Jolene Johannes, Terry Louwagie, Steph Larson, Ben Hess, George Deiss, John Poston and Terry Davis tossed the first shovelfuls of dirt during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Tri-County Hospital held on May 21 at their new location on Highway 10.

by Trinity Gruenberg

trinity@inhnews.com

Gold shovels pierced the ground and a shovelful of dirt was flung as the building project for the new Tri-County Hospital kicked off with a groundbreaking ceremony on May 21 at their new location on Highway 10.

Tri-County President and CEO Joel Beiswenger began the festivities speaking about the new healthcare center of the future and sharing some history of their previous locations that are still in use. The new hospital is set to open in early 2023, 49 years after the original building opened.

They added 30,000 square feet to their current facility and remodeled half the building in 2005. There were continuous projects through 2017.

“The standing joke among staff and the community is ‘Will Tri-County ever stop building?’ My answer was, ‘probably never,'” said Beiswenger.

Back in 2014 they began looking at the future of the current campus and in 2017 engaged in strategic planning and learned they needed a new facility.

“This monumental day is a culmination of four very hard workers in great earnest with many people and thousands of hours of work,” he said.

Beiswenger shared the recipe of creativity and passion, intelligence and wisdom, as well as some sleepless nights and courage, above all else, to take risks and make this possible. As well as overcoming the delay as a result of the pandemic.

“[We feel] joy and elation to bring this vision to fruition. Relief we are able to get it done and get through all of the roadblocks we encountered. And great pride in all of the people that did this great work,” said Beiswenger. . .

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