HERMANN – It’s not just the Hermann business community that hopes to benefit from the data centers being developed as part of the Montgomery County industrial megasite project. The local hospital, also, is hoping to take advantage of a population influx related to the data centers.

In an effort to further extend the reach of Hermann Area District Hospital (HADH) into Montgomery County, board member Melissa Lensing says she is hoping to see the hospital and its services presented as a key resource for the data centers’ personnel. At the March 30 regular session of the HADH Board of Directors, Lensing discussed her recent meeting with the Montgomery County Economic Development Council, the arm of county government promoting development within the industrial megasite near New Florence.

“That meeting went great,” Lensing said, attending the HADH board meeting by telephone.

Lensing is the executive director of the Hermann Area Chamber of Commerce, which is in the midst of a capital campaign to raise funds for a detailed Strategic Plan. That plan would be designed to position the Hermann community’s businesses in a position to take advantage of any economic opportunities that might arise from having data centers — one operated by Google, the other by Amazon — close to Hermann.

She sees HADH as part of an overall package of various emergency services that could be made available to the data centers. The aim behind the move is to capture a share of any funding made available to local agencies by the data centers.

“We really need to position ourselves for being considered for any of that emergency services funding,” she said. Lensing said it appears that at least one of the data centers are planning to allocate about $3 million during the next two years to support emergency service providers.

Meeting with the Economic Development Council about three weeks ago gave her an opportunity to make an initial case for the hospital and its services, she said. “All I wanted to do was get a seat at the table,” she said. “My guess is that we’ll be asked to come back,” she added.

“Right now, I think, is really good timing,” Lensing said, adding, “You don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

The effort to tap into the economic development projects across the Missouri River comes at the same time hospital policymakers are considering what they want to do regarding the Associated Medical Arts Clinic in Montgomery City. Administrator Bill Hellebusch outlined the considerations surrounding the upgrades needed at the current clinic site.

“It comes down to: Would we rather lease or own? More to come,” he told the board, noting that hospital officials had taken a look at an available property that could serve as a new clinic, also on Sturgeon Street.

In other matters, Hellebusch reported that the Show-Me High Value Network — the consortium of 18 small and rural hospitals formed under CIBOLO umbrella to join forces in negotiating better payment deals with Medicaid and insurance companies — had set up a committee framework that will have representation from the member hospitals. Named to the various committees from HADH are Physician Assistant Jessica Haug, Dr. Donald Swayze, Clinic Operations Director Ellen Schaumberg and Chief Financial Officer Cindi Engemann.

Hellebusch also outlined to the board how one component of the local economy — the hospital and its employment of providers — is tied in part to another component, one that is at the forefront of much discussion in the county seat community: Available housing.

The administrator pointed to a study regarding types of patients and services, saying studies such as this are good to have when a hospital considers what services to offer. In the case of HADH, he said, “One of the things we need to look at is in respiratory” services.

But, he pointed out, a lack of housing makes recruitment difficult of some providers. He characterized available housing as being a key piece of the local puzzle of assembling a roster of service providers.