“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• SIOUX VALLEY TRACY MEDICAL CENTER HAS A NEW NAME, THANKS TO A $400 MILLION DONATION TO THE SIOUX VALLEY HEALTH SYSTEM.
Tracy’s health and clinic campus is now known as Sanford Health, Tracy. The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sioux Valley Health System is now called Sanford Health. The new names are the result of a $400 million donation to Sioux Valley from South Dakota businessman T. Denny Sanford.
The Tracy hospital and medical clinic has been leased and managed by the Sioux Valley organization since June 1997.
Rick Nordahl, Tracy hospital administrator, said that the Sanford donation is enormously good news. While it is not known how the Sanford gift could impact the Tracy medical campus, the administrator said the additional resources will undoubtedly help the entire system.
“We couldn’t be happier about the gift,” he said.
In a prepared statement sent to news organizations, Nordahl explained his thoughts: “We won’t see instant changes on a local level as the result of this gift. However, as the plan for clinical research and service development is carried out, our entire integrated system will be ultimately impacted by this gift.” The $400 million gift will position Sanford Health to be “a national healthcare leader,” Nordahl said, and attract “top-tier talent” to the organization. Local physician recruitment and medical outreach programs will be enhanced by the Sanford gift, he said.
“There is a strong ripple effect that can be felt throughout an organization when something like this happens,” said Nordahl. “Our community is fortunate to have such world class healthcare and research available so close to home. There could not be a more exciting time for our organization to be a part of Sanford Health.”
Administrators in the Sioux Valley system were briefed on the Sanford gift on Friday. A public announcement was made at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls the day before.
Local hospital and clinic employees were invited to the gathering but weren’t told what would be announced.
Carol “Cookie” Cooreman, community relations specialist at the hospital, watched the announcement with about 10 other staff members over an Internet video link.
“We were just stunned,” she said. “The size of the gift blew me away. I still can’t really comprehend how much money $400 million is. It’s unbelievable.”
• Last week’s answer: A plane crash during low-visibility weather in 1975 took the life of Jack Watson, pilot, and seriously injured his wife, Gwen, daughter of Mrs. Edward Schafer of Walnut Grove and related to other Tracy and Walnut Grove residents.
