W. C. Heiam Foundation
Founded in 1992, the W.C. Heiam Medical Foundation was created to help provide high-tech equipment as well as special programs at the Cook Hospital. Vital to the continued growth and viability of the facility, the foundation has contributed tens of thousands of dollars since its founding. These funds have gone a long way in ensuring that the Cook Hospital can continue to meet the needs of residents and visitors in its 2,500-square-mile service area.
The Promise of a Legacy
The foundation was named for Dr. William C. Heiam. Born in 1898, Dr. Heiam arrived in Cook in 1926, shortly after graduating from medical school. Acting on a lifelong dream to open a medical facility in a remote and under served region, “Doc” Heiam opened the first Cook General Hospital in 1932. In the 1950s, he realized that his facility no longer met state and/or federal regulations and the area needed a more advanced hospital. It was his foresight and efforts that led to the opening of a new Cook Hospital on October 26, 1959.
Giving History
The W. C. Heiam Medical Foundation has donated over $300,000 to Cook Hospital and other local medical services. These donations have helped to purchase or support the following: EKG system, free chemical dependency counseling, pacemaker/defibrillator machine, five Stryker stretchers for the emergency room, installation of CT scanner, mammography unit, laboratory and rehabilitation equipment, coagulation analyzer, x-ray film processor, ultrasound vascular probe, EKG system, three hospital beds, 12 Welch Allyn 767 diagnostic systems, $24,855.50 toward the construction of the hospital’s expansion, a bariatric lift system, three Computers on Wheels, two Stryker Power Pro cots, emergency room defibrillator, urine analyzer and interface, and money to help fund a resident stipend program. The foundation also provided money for housing for one year for a third physician hired by Scenic Rivers Health Services. Cook Hospital offered the housing incentive to help in the recruiting of the new doctor and the foundation provided the funding.
In keeping with the foundation’s mission statement to serve the medical needs of the residents in the Cook Hospital Service Area and commit to making a difference in the health care available within the community today and into the future, the Heiam Foundation has also donated $20,000 to Scenic Rivers Health Services for its search to hire additional physicians for its clinic in Cook. These physicians also provide services at the Cook Hospital.
