First in the nation to open doors with HUD-242 mortgage
insurance program

Building Area 35,000 SF Architect HLM Design

On August 6, the Rio Grande Hospital – once a struggling operation with a run-down building and a failing heating system – officially became the first critical-access hospital in the country to open using the FHA’s HUD-242 mortgage insurance program for its funding. “The Neenan Co. has gone beyond what one would ordinarily expect, helping us to accomplish this,” said Norman Haug, Rio Grande Hospital Administrator. 

The hospital, serving the western portion of the San Luis Valley, has 14 single-occupancy patient rooms, three additional observation beds, a procedure and operating room, digital X-ray equipment and a CT scanner, all of which it didn’t have before. Adjacent to the hospital and off the emergency area is an FAA-approved helicopter landing pad. There is a chapel with a truly rugged cross made from old timbers.

 “Neenan’s knowledge of buildings and building processes... has been exceedingly helpful to us... your involvement in our application to HUD... and in relation to the other providers in our area has helped us accomplish our plans... You understand physicians about as well as anyone I have known ... we have not only received everything that we were promised and for which we paid, but we have come out quite ahead in what you have done for us.”

- Norman Haug, M.D., M.P.H., Administrator, Rio Grande Hospital