REED Fund Prioritizes Healthcare in Yankton

Healthcare clinics are typically a place residents go to for medical help. But the tables were turned in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred in the midst of Horizon Health Care closing on a new building in Yankton, South Dakota. The REED Fund and Bon Homme-Yankton Electric were able to provide a 0% loan to help Horizon complete the move and open its new facility in August 2020.

“With assistance through this loan, we were able to purchase a new facility,” said Wade Erickson, Chief Executive Officer at Horizon Health Care. “Even amidst a pandemic, having the REED Fund and Bon Homme-Yankton Electric 0% loan funding available was a huge asset to ensure we were able to move forward with this project.”

Community Healthcare

Horizon Health Care is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides medical, dental, and behavioral health care services in 22 communities across South Dakota. Through a 2018 merger, it acquired an existing clinic in Yankton located on the second floor in a building on the Avera Sacred Heart Campus. 

“Our potential to grow our medical and dental clinic was limited due to space constraints, location, and accessibility, which made it integral that we find a new home for the health center, conveniently located on Broadway Avenue,” said Erickson.

Since moving into the new facility last August, Horizon has experienced tremendous growth in their clinic practices and is currently recruiting a second medical provider to continue meeting the community’s health care needs.

Partnership

Partnerships between local businesses and the REED Fund and local cooperatives are vital to having excellent resources for rural and frontier communities. 

“Our partnership with REED and the local electric cooperatives ensure we have state-of-the-art facilities to provide patient access to high-quality and affordable healthcare in the communities we serve across our 28,000 square mile footprint across South Dakota,” said Erickson. “We have also been very fortunate to have worked with REED on previous projects in De Smet, Woonsocket and Aberdeen.”

Additionally, the loan met Bon Homme’s priorities perfectly, said its General Manager, Stephanie Horst.

“Concern for Community is one of the cooperative principles that guide several of our initiatives,” she said. “We recognized the Horizon Health-Yankton project aligned with our concern for healthcare serving our members in the Yankton and surrounding rural communities and eagerly supported the project.” 

Horizon Health Care is a non-profit community health center that provides high-quality medical, dental & behavioral healthcare to all individuals, regardless of their ability to pay. Horizon Health Care is located in rural, underserved communities across South Dakota that would not otherwise have local access to quality primary healthcare. When patients receive high quality preventive and primary care, it reduces their overall health care costs by preventing high cost services such as emergency room visits or avoidable hospital stays. A recent study found that, on average, the total cost of care was 24% lower for patients receiving care at a community health center. Horizon Health Care is also committed to positively impacting the local economies in the communities they serve, with a total statewide economic impact of over $42 million annually.

The REED Fund works closely with state and federal agencies, local banks and other loan funds to finance community and economic development projects. Bon Homme Yankton Electric Association, Inc. is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative that provides electric power to over 3,800 farm, residential, and commercial consumer-members in southeast South Dakota. Its mission is to provide safe, reliable electric energy and other services to its member-consumers. For more than 70 years, Bon Homme Yankton Electric has been delivering energy and energy solutions and has been active in communities, dedicated to serving members with innovation, accountability, integrity and commitment to community.