MUSICIANS JANEY KATZ - Zia Publishing

“We expect people from all over thecountry to come visit,” Pelton says. “And Iwould like to say that I have been verypleasantly surprised by the condition,cleanliness and spaciousness of the existingfacility, as well as the caring, compassionatestaff.”GEO Care, Inc. is an internationalcompany, with 100 percent of its revenuescoming from state and governmentcontracts. It officially took overmanagement of Fort Bayard in November of2005. Only two people on the 24-personmanagement staff have been brought infrom outside the area, including Pelton,who comes from Tucson, and VickiHawkins, Director of Nursing Services, whocomes from Santa Fe. The rest of the staffincludes previous employees and peoplehired locally, according to Pelton.GEO Care, Inc. has been mandated todesign, construct, build and manage thenew 230-bed facility on a parcel of landadjacent to the existing hospital. The landwill be owned by Grant County, as will thebuilding once bonds are paid off.Jorge Dominicis, President of GEO Care,Inc., says, “There has been tremendouscooperation between GEO Care and thevarious communities, especially on choosinga site for the new state-of-the-art facility.Furthermore, GEO Care has successfullyaddressed and corrected all of theoperational deficiencies cited by the Centerfor Medicare-Medicaid Services (CMS) andthe State of New Mexico Department ofHealth during its re-visit to the facility. Weare happy with the progress that has beenmade to improve the quality of care at thefacility and look forward to transformingFort Bayard into a center of excellence forlong-term care.”While a new building and anotherchapter begin for the Fort Bayard MedicalCenter under GEO Care, Inc., there is hopethat the old buildings will remain a link tothe past. That, says Pelton, will be up to theState of New Mexico and the Fort BayardHistoric Preservation Society. “We certainlysupport renovation of the existing facility asa national monument.”www.ziapublishing.com – 73