On Location

History is often the element that ties people in rural communities together, but if that history also applies to an active healthcare facility, the community could have a problem on its hands.

Until the recent opening of a replacement hospital, Bell Memorial Hospital in Ishpeming, Mich., held the distinction of being the oldest hospital in the state. The 90-year-old facility was crumbling as it continued to serve patients from the former mining communities at the midpoint of Michigan’s isolated upper peninsula.