JOHN DAY — The Blue Mountain Hospital District has received a long-awaited federal payment to offset some of the costs it absorbed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tax-supported public health district, which operates the 25-bed Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day and several other health care enterprises in Grant County, received $5.5 million in COVID relief funding in late June, according to district CEO Cam Marlowe.

The money came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

“COVID was and is considered a natural disaster by FEMA,” Marlowe explained.

An additional payment of $700,000 is expected in the next 60 days, he added.

The $6.2 million in FEMA funding will help the hospital district offset some of the extraordinary costs it faced during the pandemic, primarily for contract labor in the form of doctors, nurses and other clinical personnel.

Those expenses have already been paid, so the district will be able to use the money toward current and future expenses, according to Marlowe.

“These FEMA monies will be used to replenish our operating bank account balance that has been dwindling the last four years as a result of higher expenses and lower revenues directly related to COVID,” he said.

“Having a modest balance in our bank account will help us continue to meet the daily needs of our hospital district and will, in part, help us pursue some longer-term, strategic efforts to update our facilities and equipment and continue to provide and even expand the services we currently offer.”

The district initially took steps to apply for the COVID relief funds in late 2022, Marlowe said, but asked for and was granted an extension in order to comply with additional FEMA data reporting and application requirements.