ROGERS — There it stands on the main street of Rogers, connecting the downtown shops with the westward sprawl of the city. The windows on the old St. Mary Hospital are boarded up, with its entrances behind locked gates. Since the new Mercy Health Center opened in March at a new location on Interstate 540, this forlorn figure has stood as a sad reminder of its past service to the community.
However, this picture is about to change. Now the campus is taking on a new life. Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas has announced the donation of the 13-acre campus owned by the Sisters of Mercy to the Jones Trust of Springdale. Plans are in the works to convert the facility to a non-profit center, providing space and amenities for nonprofit agencies, health care facilities and education, according to an Oct. 6 news release from the hospital.
Currently the Jones Trust, a foundation established by Harvey and Bernice Jones, provides funds for the Center for Families, the Family Resource Center, Jones Television and the Education Center in downtown Springdale, as well as the Har-Ber Meadows home of the NWA Community Foundation.
The purpose of the Jones Trust is to support and encourage non-profit agencies and organizations that serve communities in northwest Arkansas. With the opening of the new non-profit center, its mission of service will now include Benton County.
The acquisition of the property will include the campus’ main building, the former convent and five other buildings, totaling nearly 300,000 square feet.
While the construction of the new hospital was in the works last spring, Susan Barrett, Mercy president, and Betsy Reithemeyer, chief operating officer of the Jones Trust and a member of the Rogers City Council, started conversations on the impact that the move would have on the community, specifically downtown Rogers.
Reithemeyer said, “We were thrilled that Mercy was moving out to the new location, but we were concerned because the original campus had been such an integral part of Rogers. So the conversation just really started with brainstorming on what we needed in the community. When I say ’community,’ I mean the larger northwest Arkansas area and region.”
In a statement printed in the church bulletin in July, Barrett prepared the parishioners of St. Vincent de Paul Church, which is located one block from the hospital, for the possibility of such a center as she explained the ongoing discussions with community leaders.
She said that “a group had begun developing a concept of a consolidated center for building the capacity of important safety-net services and linking those services to education.”
The concept would echo the mission of the Sisters of Mercy and the heritage of the Dominican sisters who served the hospital and the community over the years.
These conversations led to drawing up concept papers and proposals as well as working with other community leaders to determine the needs and best use of such a facility.
“Since the announcement this week, my phone has been ringing off the wall with people who want space in the building. Northwest Arkansas Community College is still in negotiations with us, and we’re hoping they will come to the center. They have been a part of the conversation since the beginning,” Reithemeyer said.
Currently, 12 to 15 groups have expressed interested in the project, including letters of intent from more than a half dozen organizations. The excitement of the announcement is spreading, according to Reithemeyer.
“I haven’t been marketing the building. Since it came out in the newspaper, I have probably had calls from 20 people that literally I have not had time to call back yet,” she said.
As plans go forward, the biggest part of the renovation project will be updating the energy systems. This will include new heating and air conditioning systems along with the installation of more efficient lighting. Reithemeyer estimated that these energy retrofits could take up to six months.
This is all good news to the parishioners of St. Vincent de Paul Church. Concerns about the future use of the old hospital have been expressed over the past year. These concerns were brought to the surface during a heated debate in a church meeting last October with the Benton County Quorum Court when the court considered buying the hospital campus to use as a juvenile detention center and county offices. The court decided against such a move.
Msgr. David LeSieur, pastor at St. Vincent de Paul Church, said he appreciated being informed by Mercy Medical Center officials about the ongoing negotiations with the Jones Trust.
“Recently I met with Betsy Reithemeyer of the Jones Trust and Sister Anita DeSalvo of Mercy Hospital. Betsy told me at that time that the dream was very near reality and that all that was needed was permission of the Vatican in Rome. This permission was granted in a letter from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, dated Sept. 21, 2008.”
Permission from the institute was required because a religious order was giving up ownership of church goods worth more than a certain amount of money.
As pastor, Msgr. LeSieur also is happy to learn that the dream of using St. Mary Hospital campus as a facility for non-profit organizations will become a reality in the near future.
“I believe that the people of St. Vincent de Paul Church will welcome this addition to our area. It is my hope that we can offer ministry to some of the agencies that will be housed in the new facility,” he said.
