ROCK SPRINGS — Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County’s interim CEO and Thrive Wyoming presented at the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday, addressing health concerns across in the county.
Interim CEO Kari Quickenden outlined the recent opening of a nearly $9 million lab and foundation space funded through contributions from the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners, the hospital, the hospital foundation, and the State Loan and Investment Board. The new lab allows patients to enter without walking through the main hospital.
Quickenden highlighted several new and expanded services, including osteoarthritis radiation therapy, which she said produces significant pain improvement in 50-75% of patients.
A $1.9 million Helmsley Charitable Trust grant will fund a permanent PET/CT scanner for the cancer center, replacing a mobile unit that frequently falls behind schedule in winter due to I-80 road conditions. Installation is expected in late fall.
Beginning July 7, the hospital will offer tele-NICU services through the University of Utah, allowing providers to immediately consult a neonatologist in cases involving premature delivery or birth complications.
The emergency department also received a three-year area trauma hospital designation earlier this month.
Quickenden also updated the chamber on Wyoming’s Rural Health Transformation Program, a $205 million initiative that must be spent by October 2027. She said close to half of those funds are directed toward emergency services, including support for hospitals maintaining or adding obstetric care. The hospital has no plans to discontinue OB services, she said.
Additional funding categories under the program include rural workforce development, which she said includes grants for nursing students who commit to remaining in Wyoming for five years.
Also presenting was Carey Larson, a Rock Springs counselor and co-founder of Thrive Wyoming, a nonprofit launched in October 2024 aimed at improving mental health access in Sweetwater County.
Larson said the organization formed after years of watching patients struggle to afford or access care, a concern that deepened after a colleague and fellow therapist died by suicide. He cited figures showing 155 Wyoming residents died by suicide in 2022, and that roughly 26,000 adults and 7,000 adolescents experienced serious suicidal ideation that year.
Thrive Wyoming has approved therapy funding for more than 15 individuals and is hosting a fundraising golf tournament in Green River in September.
