Today is a historic day in the history of the Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson.

The groundbreaking event held this afternoon marked the official start of the largest addition to the medical center in its 77-year history with a new 51,000 square-foot addition to the south and southeast portion of the existing grounds on Lincoln Highway.

Chief Executive Officer Carl Behne said for the last 22-months, they have undergone the planning stages from getting approved for the $22.5 million loan from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Community Facilities Program and Home State Bank, to conducting a building feasibility study with ME&V to awarding the construction contract to Woodruff Construction out of Ames leading up to today’s historic event.

Home State Bank President Sid Jones talked about how great a moment this was for the county and how the different entities working together were able to make this dream a reality.

“Oh I think it’s a terrific day for Greene County and for the medical center.  The foresight started a long time ago, so this is kind of a culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot people not necessarily so much Home State Bank or the financial institutions as it is the staff and the Board of Directors and the Administration here at the hospital.”

The medical center’s steering committee is currently working on its $4 million capital campaign which has raised over $2 million already.

Part of the agreement with USDA is that the construction project must be completed within two years from the start of construction.