(Riverton, WY) – Around 100 community members gathered at the Central Wyoming College Robert A. Peck Arts Center Gallery on Monday evening, where the official name of the new Riverton Medical District (RMD) hospital, RiverPeak Health, was revealed, along with the new logo.
Unlike other name reveals, this one involved fundraising combined with an interactive, Wheel-Of-Fortune-esque game element. Folks could purchase one of 34 letters, 15 of which would be used to fill in the blanks of the puzzle as each corresponding number was called.
Parker Dennison, the RMD’s “first employee,” MC’d the game/reveal portion of the evening, and made sure the audience “ahh’ed” in disappointment when one of the letters wasn’t used, and “yay’ed” in approval when one of the letters filled in the blank spot on the wall. RMD Board Member Travis Koehn served as the “Vanna White” for the reveal game, and placed the letters that were used.
Letters were available for purchase as a fundraising effort during the name reveal game. Dennison explains the rules to the crowd. Dennison and Koehn cheer when one of the letters was used. The letters were revealed one by one at the Riverton Medical District hospital name reveal party. The new name is revealed; RiverPeak Health.
h/t Vince Tropea, County 10
Before the name reveal game and after some mingling, RMD Board Chair Corte McGuffey announced that the hospital is currently 47% complete, and is “on budget and on time,” to cheers from the crowd.
The hospital project has been an ongoing effort that began in 2018, and has made the most headway toward the final product this year, most recently with the beam-signing event back in June.
“We’re in a big hurry to get the building closed in before the winter comes…” McGuffey commented. “We were a little bit ahead of schedule for a couple weeks, but we’ve had a little bit of delay with the glass and some of the stone. But the frames are (currently) going up for the glass.”
McGuffey added that the goal is to get everything “dried in before winter so we don’t have to spend a bunch of money on winter conditions, on heaters and tarps, so (the crews) can work all winter long.”
McGuffey went on to share that the first floor is “almost all framed out,” and that they have begun mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work as well as framing on the second floor.
“We have probably about 50 to 60 people on site right now working at any given time. We think that will go up to about 80 or 90 here shortly,” McGuffey added before highlighting local contractors like Dave’s Asphalt, Alexander Excavation, and Shot Crete Construction, for their work on the hospital.
(Throughout the evening, McGuffey also thanked the RMD communications committee, the RMD Board members, various individuals’ contributions, a matching donation from IDEA Inc., the Billings Clinic team, and CWC for providing the space for the name reveal.)
In terms of behind-the-scenes updates, an operations committee was formed about two months ago, which Dennison heads, and the “first doctor recruit” was contacted about a month ago.
“We’ve had over 100 people fill out the careers page on our website, looking for employment when the hospital opens, so there’s a lot of excitement about what we’re doing,” McGuffey explained.
Additionally, a philanthropic committee was formed to launch “phase two” of the fundraising efforts.
“We’d like to raise about another $600,000 or so to add some things back in that we had to cut to make our budget, and these are all things that will add to the quality of our patient experience,” McGuffey commented, which would include things like a second radiology room and glass sliders for pre-/post-op recovery rooms.
“All these things will help us make this facility a better place.”
(Donations can also be made directly here.)
“The real question is, is Riverton going to beat Lander in football?” someone asked from the crowd about this week’s big rivalry match, before McGuffey handed the mic over to Dennison for the reveal game.
“We had good practice tonight, so yeah, it’s going to be a big game,” McGuffey diplomatically responded to chuckles from the crowd.
To see all of County 10’s coverage of the RMD and RiverPeak Health, click here.