HERMANN – So much for Dawn Grosse taking it easy after retiring last year from the administration of the local school district.

The former longtime social worker in the Gasconade County R-1 District is about to become a very busy person in a new effort to improve access to healthcare for residents in Gasconade and Osage counties. Grosse was announced recently as the new coordinator in District 21 in Missouri’s Rural Health Transformation program aimed at connecting residents with healthcare services.

Hermann Area District Hospital Chief Executive Officer and Administrator Bill Hellebusch hailed the selection of Grosse as the Hub coordinator. In that role, she will oversee the work of two navigators — one Gasconade, the other in Osage. The navigators, probably working out of the counties’ health departments’ offices, will be the personnel on the ground to deal directly with residents in need of healthcare services. It will be the navigators’ job to put the residents in touch with the providers of the services that are needed.

As Hellebusch earlier explained to the hospital’s Board of Directors, the coordinator likely will be based inside the hospital.

Hellebusch told the Gasconade County Republican he is excited about having Grosse in the position of coordinator. “I was overjoyed with her hiring,” he said. “I think she is going to be awesome,” he said.

At the time he talked with the Republican, Hellebusch had not hired the two navigators. District 21 initially was to receive only one navigator, responsible for splitting time between Gasconade and Osage counties. But Hellebusch argued that District 21 was large enough to warrant a navigator in each county; the state agreed with him, he said.

The HADH administrator said getting the Rural Health Transformation project to this point has involved a lot of hectic activity by the hospital’s administration. “Everything’s been so much work, but it’s been good,” he said.

This program is being funded with dollars passed down by the state. The coordinator’s salary and benefits will amount to about $100,000 a year while the navigators’ pay and benefits will amount to about $85,000 a year, according to Hellebusch’s recent report to the hospital board.

Meanwhile, the administration is taking the first steps in preparing for HADH’s 60th Anniversary. Set for the next June, the hospital will celebrate with a gala event scheduled for Valentine Hall in Starkenburg. The 60th Anniversary celebration will be part of the hospital’s fund-raising effort to make the hospital a Level 2 Stroke Center.

Toward that goal, the hospital has been acquiring new equipment, such as a new “32-slice” CT scanner that provides a more-detailed look at the brain of a patient suspected of suffering a stroke.

On another front, Hellebusch noted that HADH has been approved to receive $1.9 million in federal money to make improvements in a number of areas at the hospital — from a new roof to repairing HVAC equipment, a new nurse-call system, new windows and doors making the hospital more energy efficient and other upgrades.

This is money that Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley was able to secure to compensate healthcare cuts in President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. Officials of rural healthcare facilities, such as HADH, voiced concern that the cuts in that law would jeopardize the ability of rural facilities to continue operations.