Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media
achedden@currentargus.com

New hospitals could be coming to Carlsbad and Artesia to quell struggles of residents in accessing medical care without traveling out of the area.

A multi-facility project to increase health care facilities was being led by the Artesia Special Hospital District, the decision-making entity for the nonprofit Artesia General Hospital’s facilities in Artesia and Carlsbad.

Jeremy Kern, project manager at Artesia General Hospital, said the new facility in Artesia will be a “health care village” with the land designed for medical facilities and residential housing. A portion of the land would be offered by the district to developers for 143 “mid-tier” homes, Kern said, with a goal of making them “affordable housing” to not exceed $250,000 a house.

The facility will replace Artesia General’s current main campus on 13th Street, which will be repurposed to serve senior citizens via an inpatient nursing home and urgent care center.

Kern gave a presentation on the hospital plans during the Eddy County Commission’s Tuesday meeting in Carlsbad.

“A lot of our constituents came to us and said we have a housing shortage; we have an apartment shortage,” Kern said. “We didn’t need all of this land for our health care campus, and we thought we could make some extra revenue.”

The replacement campus will ultimately expand patient capacity to more than 100 beds and modernize facilities, Kern said. The facility will serve all of Eddy County, including patients from Artesia and Carlsbad, along with smaller communities such as Loving or Hope and bigger cities such as Roswell to the north.

“This more serves the needs of our population,” Kern said. “We need to have more capacity.”

Kern said the project began with a “master plan” developed three years ago by the Artesia Special Hospital District. Construction was expected to begin in 2027 following the initial “programming” phase. A cost estimate was not yet determined as design plans were still ongoing.

The land, about 250 acres near the corner of Mill Road and U.S. Highway 285 near Tractor Supply in Artesia, was purchased by the district about two years ago.

“We’re ready to roll this out to more stakeholders,” Kern said. “We’re seeing more and more volume of patients coming in here. This will be our new home site.”

Aside from the hospital’s new north campus, Kern said Artesia General Hospital was also planning to begin designing a new, full-service hospital in the county known as the Pecos Springs Regional Hospital. He said it will allow Artesia General to serve patients across Eddy County without them having to travel out of the area for treatment.

The 320,000-square-foot building will sit on 65 acres, Kern said, in a location in Eddy County still to be determined. The project was in the early stages, and a cost and timeline were not available as of Tuesday’s meeting.

A smaller, 42,000 square-foot urgent care facility known as Pecos Springs Medical Center is intended for Carlsbad when a location is found, Kern said.

“It’s a major investment. This is what we envision for Carlsbad and our area,” Kern said. “Health care is huge. You can’t have strong communities without health care. This project has grown to be much more than a replacement hospital.”

Such projects are needed throughout Eddy County, said District 5 County Commissioner Sarah Cordova, who argued that residents should be able to access medical treatment without leaving their city or county. She said Carlsbad’s options were especially lacking.

Hospital records showed about 20% of Artesia General Hospital’s patients make the 40-minute drive from Carlsbad.

“For a long time, health care has been a mission of our commission,” Cordova said. “I don’t think it’s any secret, a majority of people in this room would head to Artesia for health care treatment. I think the majority of us will be excited to see more options coming here.”

Other business

Commissioners also discussed construction plans for two new fire stations near the Tumbleweed Road and the McNew Subdivision. The projects were expected to cost $12 million and $7.9 million, respectively.

The ongoing project for a new building for the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force was approved by a unanimous vote authorizing a $181,000 budget adjustment for the purchase of furniture and supplies as the building was nearing completion.

Eddy County Fire Service Chief Josh Mack gave a presentation on the county’s wildfire protection plan, which will guide how county resources are used during New Mexico spring wildfire season. In the spring months, hotter temperatures and high winds often cause large fires to break out in the region.

Public meetings on the plan will be held March 4 in Carlsbad, March 5 in Artesia and March 6 in Queen.