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Only 30 miles separate St. Helens from Portland. That’s a long distance, however, for a St. Helens parent with a child needing emergency care early in the morning.

St. Helens has no hospital, which is why the Columbia Health District spent six years planning and advocating for a community hospital to be built there. But this week, the state rejected a proposal for a new 12-bed hospital, saying the facility was financially dicey and unneeded. With construction documents ready to go and the property purchased, the district now hopes to appeal the decision, said Pam Powell, hospital project coordinator.

St. Helens’ only hospital closed in 1990, Powell said. Residents have since relied on an urgent care facility operated by Legacy Health Services. But it is open only from noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, so medical problems that arise at other times must be addressed in Portland or Longview, Wash. In 2004, voters within the Columbia Health District passed a small tax levy to build a community hospital in St. Helens that would provide around-the-clock emergency service.

“People that have wounds or are having difficulty breathing have to go to Portland on an ambulance,” Powell said. “It’s disruptive and terrifying for these people. If you need to get back from Portland, you have to rely on family or pay another charge for medical transport.”

As proposed, the hospital would be 24,000 square feet and house 12 patient beds, a lab and radiology space with a CT scan, X-ray and mammography services. Any major medical emergency would still require a trip to a Portland hospital, Powell said, but the community hospital could treat non-surgical fractures, minor wounds and lacerations and breathing difficulties. Such injuries make up two-thirds of those that require residents to travel for medical care, according to the Columbia Health District. The hospital was designed by of Portland.

But the state disagrees that the community hospital would significantly reduce trips to Portland. Patients with time-sensitive conditions, such as strokes, heart attacks and births, would still need to travel to Portland because the community hospital would have no surgery or maternity services, according to Jana Fussell, certificate of need coordinator for the Oregon Public Health Division. Oregon’s certificate of need program requires all new medical facilities to be deemed necessary by the state.

“What we are calling better access, the state is calling convenience,” Powell said.

The state also called the hospital’s financial plan into question. A financial analysis performed by Oregon Public Health determined the facility would require $45 million, including interest, from local taxpayers. Fussell said it is unlikely residents using the facility’s services would see any cost savings. In addition, Legacy said if a new hospital were built, it would close the urgent-care clinic. The new hospital, however, would employ 60 people full-time.

Columbia Health District already has spent $4 million to acquire land, complete architectural and construction documents, and run utility lines to the site at 35311 Millard Road in St. Helens. Ground is ready to be broken tomorrow, said Jay Tappen, chair of the Columbia Health District Board. Tappen is also the local fire chief in St. Helens, and says the city loses two members of its small paramedic team for at least two hours every time someone must be transported via ambulance to Portland.

“Our call volume has jumped because of growth in our community,” Tappen said. “I’m shocked and disappointed by the state’s decision to reject this. But I think we have a good chance of getting this decision overturned.”

The Columbia Health District on Tuesday requested an informal hearing before the Oregon Public Health Division to clarify its plans for the hospital and address state concerns, Tappen said. That hearing must be scheduled before Oct. 5, in accordance with state law. This is the second time that the state has rejected a St. Helens community hospital plan. A proposal was rejected in October 2009, leading the Columbia Health District to revamp its application.