On the site, the Salvation Army will build housing units for the needy, a clinic and administrative offices.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published February 19, 2004
CLEARWATER - During its three decades on Druid Road, Clearwater Community Hospital saw a lot of patients come and go, but it never became the community powerhouse that Morton Plant Hospital was across town.
"It was never quite a part of the social fabric," County Commissioner Calvin Harris said. "It never captured the imagination or created all the support Morton Plant did."
By the late 1990s, occupancy rates had slipped to 20 percent, and the hospital closed in 1999. Now its old building is being torn down to make way for the Salvation Army, which hopes to use the property to do some community-building of its own.
Construction workers began demolishing the vacant building last week to make way for the Salvation Army's new Center of Hope. There will be 25 transitional housing units at the center, on a 7-acre site.
"It will expand our ability to provide services to individuals in need," said Paul Bridges, business administrator for the Salvation Army. "Transitional housing is certainly a need in the community. We won't have a problem filling the additional units."
Since 1962, the Salvation Army has had most of its offices among a campus of buildings on the 400 block of Fort Harrison Avenue in downtown Clearwater. But the agency had been looking to expand emergency housing, including more units for homeless families and people with AIDS.
When the Salvation Army discovered the vacant hospital on the market, it decided to purchase the 92,400-square-foot facility for $1.5-million. The 133-bed hospital, which was owned by Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., closed because of low occupancy.
Clearwater Community Hospital opened on Nov. 4, 1968, with soft yellow walls, block print draperies, muted orange and green carpeting and wood-tone furnishings in all the patient rooms.
Rosalie Robinson, 75, of Clearwater was sad to see the hotellike hospital close. She used to go there for treatment of migraines in the early 1980s. She remembers visiting her aunt in the early 1970s, wheeling her aunt to the window so she could wave to her nieces outside. At that time, children weren't allowed in patients' rooms, Robinson said.
"I hated to see Community close," she said. "I'm not against the Salvation Army. They have been quite helpful to people in the community. Clearwater is big enough to have another hospital besides Morton Plant."
Clearwater Community Hospital served a valuable purpose for a number of years, said City Commissioner Hoyt Hamilton, who said he and his family always went to Morton Plant. With the opening of Mease Countryside, he believes the community is being well-served.
The Salvation Army also provides a lot of services for the community, he said.
The agency is planning to spend $2.3-million on construction of the center. It will include housing units for people with AIDS, units for families needing emergency shelter and units for single people trying to make a transition from homelessness. There will also be a new medical clinic offering pre- and postnatal care for women and space for the Salvation Army's administrative offices.
Construction on the new center is scheduled to begin in May and is expected to take 12 months. The Salvation Army is still raising money for the massive overhaul.
"I think it's going to strengthen their ability to serve our community," Hamilton said. "I know there's some concern from local residents around here. I know the staff will take whatever actions necessary to address those concerns."
