Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Facility Fails At Old Hospital

Gurdon's old hospital, long a thorn in the city's side, was sold during 1999 and was to be turned into a residential care center.

This, and the subsequent problems, made the hospital one of the top stories of the year in Gurdon.

In early February, a group approached the city council offering to purchase the building. The council agreed and sold the facility to Coleman Research.

Cliff Coleman, head of Coleman Research, said the new center should be open by mid- April 1999, but this didn't happen.

Carolyn Skaggs was named as the clinical director, with Gurdon residents told she would be overseeing the day-to-day operations.

The plans, according to Skaggs and Coleman, were to make the hospital into a residential care center with social activity available to the residents there.

The center, they said, would have in-house laundry facilities, would provide transportation for its clients, with each room to have its own central heat and air unit.

Meals were also to be provided for the residents.

Skaggs said a doctor would be on staff by late summer, but this also has yet to occur.

The center was licensed by the state to have 25 beds, and would be for those needing help with day-to-day living, though the residents didn't have to have any serious problems to live there.

Construction was begun at the facility, but stopped before being completed.

Coleman Research did manage to pay the city for the building and property, but didn't have the financial backing to finish the overall project.

At this time, the old hospital, owned by Coleman Research, sits abandoned.

Before Coleman got involved, the hospital was leased to a group with similar plans.

This bunch went in, did many renovations to the inside of the building and put up a sign proclaiming it as Ami Village.

However, lack of long-term funding proved to be the downfall of this enterprise as well, as it also failed.