About Us

Melissa Memorial Hospital (MMH) is located in the eastern plains of Holyoke Colorado and was honored to receive an award as Modern Healthcare’s Top 100 Best Places to Work. Our 15-bed critical access hospital, 24/7 ER, Nursing Unit, Family Practice and Specialty Clinics, inpatient and retail Pharmacies, surgical services, and various ancillary services support the outstanding patient care provided at MMH. 

With strong board leadership comprised of community members and focusing on the health and wellness of our community, our excellent and compassionate staff is committed to providing you with the care you need. We value integrity, collaboration, courage, service, passion, and ownership.

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A large building with trees and rocks in front of it.

City of Pride and Progress

Melissa Memorial Hospital is located in Holyoke, Colorado a rural community and county seat in eastern Phillips County. Holyoke is home to and is truly a “City of Pride and Progress.” Holyoke offers a strong education system, airport, indoor swimming pool, 18-hole golf course, ball fields, skateboard park, tennis courts, fishing ponds, parks, camping facilities, hotels, a movie theater, many churches, a nice variety of restaurants, and many unique stores ready for you and residents to enjoy.

Phillips County

It’s also home to the Phillips County Historical Society Museum, the County Fair, and two facilities on the historical register, The Burge Hotel and the Heginbotham Library. The county seat of Phillips County, Holyoke, sits on the golden plains of northeastern Colorado and is composed of four communities: Amherst, Haxtun, Holyoke, and Paoli.

Holyoke has two major highways running through the community, Hwy. 385 & 6, and agriculture is our main economic force, with excellent dry land and irrigated cropland to grow wheat, corn, dry edible beans, popcorn, and alfalfa among other important crops. For those interested in pheasant hunting, Phillips County has over 30,000 acres of walk-in access land.

Two pictures of doctors and a woman with a test tube.
A black and white photo of an old building.
A picture of the front entrance to a building.

Our History

The first hospital was located at 641 South Baxter Ave. In 1918, Dr. Timmons had a new hospital built at 236 South Interocean Ave. It was later purchased by Dr. H.C. Hill and his wife, Irene. They lived in the downstairs area of the hospital while maintaining a 10-room hospital on the floor above them. In 1949, the community raised enough funds to purchase the hospital from Mr. Hill. It was turned over to Phillips County and governed by a board of directors appointed by the county commissioners. The living area was then turned into a delivery room and a small surgery room. C-sections, tonsillectomies, appendectomies, and hernia repairs were just some surgeries performed in the new surgery room. Before the addition of the delivery room, women labored in delivery homes located throughout the county. At times, Mr. Will Heginbotham drove the doctors to these homes by horse and buggy.

Our New Building

In 1964, Will Heginbotham donated the property and funds to build a new hospital at 505 South Baxter Ave. In return, he requested that the new hospital be named after his mother, Melissa. Melissa Memorial Hospital opened in July of 1965. The building was 75 feet by 190 feet and was constructed of fireproof masonry and steel. It had room for 25 patients and featured the latest in medical technology and equipment for its time. It’s interesting to note that the caged elevator from the previous hospital was brought over to the new hospital to provide access to the basement, used to store supplies and records. The first patient at the new hospital was Fred Peterson, a former mayor of Holyoke. Records show the hospital had a census of 15-17 patients with an average length of stay of seven days through the 1960s and 1970s. Philanthropic giving by Roy C. Gebhart, Henry and Mary Massman, Philip and Frances White, and the Will E. Heginbotham Trust helped sustain the hospital during a difficult period.

A person is holding a blood pressure monitor.

Specialty Clinics

At the turn of the century, Melissa Memorial Hospital was facing a shortage of space, with the specialty clinics using patient rooms and patients having to wait in the halls. The emergency room also did not allow for any privacy that was required and expected by families. As medicine evolved and a public need emerged for additional services, a new hospital became the driving force of Administrator Arlene Harms and CFO Shelly Larson.

Collaborative Effort

A collaborative effort was formed between the MMH Board, Melissa Memorial Hospital Foundation, and the community in 2002. The MMH Board members involved throughout this process included Cherrie Brown, Gary Krumm, John Baldwin, Sharon Thompson, Steve Young, Ray Malleck, and Sheryl Farnsworth. Groundbreaking was the next phase in the Holyoke healthcare legacy on a very cold November 18, 2006. The project was completed on schedule and almost one million dollars under the eighteen million dollar budget. The grand opening ribbon was cut on March 7, 2008.

Four doctors are standing in a group on the floor.
Three doctors are looking at a folder of papers.

Renovation & Expansion

In 2015, Melissa Memorial Hospital began its renovation and expansion project, which included a specialty clinic and family practice addition, an on-site residence, an enclosed ambulance drop-off area, and ambulance storage, another laboratory entrance, and new office space, as well as an on-site helicopter landing pad, parking, and drives for the critical access hospital.

An in-house pharmacy was added to the clinic waiting room during an addition project. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on Oct. 12, with the completion in the summer of 2016.

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