Our Story
A community emergency room does not appear overnight. It takes zoning hearings, town halls, a construction site, and a lot of neighbours who kept showing up. Here is how Fountain Hills got its own.
How we got here
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May 2019
The idea goes before Planning & Zoning
Plans for a medical centre in Fountain Hills reach the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission — the first formal step in a public process that would run for two more years.
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February 2020
A groundbreaking is planned
The project announces a groundbreaking ceremony and invites the community to attend.
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March 2020
The ceremony is cancelled — the work is not
As COVID-19 arrived, the public celebration was called off. Building a place to treat medical emergencies during a pandemic simply became more urgent.
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April 2020
Construction begins
Ground is broken quietly. Plans confirm what the building will include: a full clinical laboratory, and emergency physicians and nurses on site 24 hours a day.
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May–June 2020
A virtual town hall
With in-person gatherings impossible, the team answers residents’ questions in a televised town hall — and thanks a community that had been vocally supportive throughout.
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January 2021
Hiring locally
Recruitment begins for clinical and support staff, bringing healthcare jobs to Fountain Hills rather than importing a workforce.
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Spring 2021
The doors open
Fountain Hills Emergency Room and Medical Center begins seeing patients, and the community marks the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
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June 2021
Weeks in, the first life-changing call
A local family tells the press that having an emergency room in town may have saved a relative’s life. It is the entire argument for the project, told by someone who lived it.
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July 2021
COVID-19 vaccinations
The centre joins the local pandemic response, offering vaccinations to the community.
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August 2021
Planning the next phase
With the emergency room established, attention turns to expanding services in the building.
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January 2022
Specialists begin holding clinics
Visiting specialists start scheduling appointments at FHMC, so residents can see them without driving into the Valley.
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June 2023
Expanding who we can cover
New insurance agreements extend in-network coverage further across the area, including for members of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.
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Today
An emergency room and a family clinic
FHMC now operates a 24/7 Emergency Room and a primary care Medical Clinic in the same building — emergency care when it counts, and everyday care that helps prevent the emergency.
Editor note — confirm before publishing: This sequence is reconstructed from the publication dates of the original news posts, which are reliable for ordering but not for exact events. Please confirm the precise opening date, the ribbon-cutting date, the specialist practice name, and the insurer name, then replace "Spring 2021" and similar hedged wording with the specifics. Quotes from the press coverage should be reinstated with proper attribution.
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