Water’s Edge fitness center to close to the public; other big changes afoot for MCMC

By Tom Peterson

Mid-Columbia Medical Center will close its TD Fitness Center at Water’s Edge to the Public on December 31, according to a recent message on the hospital’s website. 

The closure is an effort “to continue MCMC’s strategic focus toward consolidating and reconfiguring staffing, expenses, and space to better provide key medical care to our patients,” said MCMC’s  Travis Dray, Director of Business Development.

Dray responded to CCCNew’s questions about changes at MCMC via email today, Nov. 21. 

The move is just one of the latest as the Hospital is making moves to cut costs while trying to maintain service. 

MCMC does not own the Water’s Edge building. Rather it is owned by Lone Pine Holdings LLC, managed by Robert Gilham of Hood River, according to the Oregon Business Registry.

“Hospitals and fitness centers around the country continue to face pressures from fluctuating volumes related to COVID, national staffing challenges and rising costs that are not sustainable,” Dray said. “Over the pandemic, 22% of health clubs and studios closed permanently. Unfortunately, MCMC is not exempt from these challenges. While this was an incredibly hard decision to make, closing the fitness center will ultimately allow us to maintain other core services for our community.”

Dray continued, “Our team is working with local partners to allow our members to continue their wellness journey and are exploring the possibility of partnering with a local community business to offer the medical exercise program as well other programs that address the needs of the Fitness Center member population: including lower intensity exercise, balance and strength classes, meditation, yoga and wellness and MS and Stroke Support Groups.

“The closure does include the Medical Exercise program, which is a supervised exercise program for members,” he said. 

Telemetry Patients

MCMC has also recently moved telemetry patients from the third floor near the intensive care unit of the hospital in The Dalles to the fourth floor with acute care. 

The term telemetry refers to the process of monitoring a patient’s vital signs where that information is collected and displayed in a central location for healthcare providers to review.

Telemetry units in hospitals are units where patients are under constant electronic monitoring. Many patients in telemetry units have experienced cardiovascular incidents like heart attacks or strokes and must be kept under close observation as they recover. Telemetry nurses monitor vital signs and rapidly respond to any sudden changes in patient status.

“Like a majority of healthcare systems in the country, MCMC has an inpatient nursing shortage not just an ICU/CCU nursing shortage,” Dray said. “MCMC nurses are adequately trained and competent to care for telemetry patients in the MCMC acute care unit.”

Nichols Landing

It also became apparent recently that physical therapy has moved out of MCMC’s Nichols Landing offices in Hood River. 

“The Physical Therapy lease for the Nichols Landing 3rd floor therapy space ends January 2023, and MCMC will not be renewing the lease,” Dray wrote. “Mid-Columbia Medical Center’s Nichols Landing outpatient therapy staff will be relocating to Water’s Edge at the end of this year. All Therapy staff are transitioning to Water’s Edge,” Dray said. 

“By consolidating our talented staff into one location, we can reduce overall wait times for appointments and provide patients with greater access to care.”