Ogden’s free Seager Clinic gets solar-power boost with help from Rocky Mountain Power
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- From left, Chelsea Slade, Bob Pump, Jerika Mays, Barb Trask, Kirk Nigro, Johnnie Cook, Daemon Garso and Ann-Margaret White take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday, June 10, 2023, to celebrate the Seager Memorial Clinic’s solar panel project awarded in part by Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky renewable energy program. The panels will allow the clinic to generate its own energy.
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- In this March 2023 photo, solar panels are visible on the roof of the new Seager Memorial Clinic location at 539 E. 24th St. in Ogden.
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- Kirk Nigro, regional business manager at Rocky Mountain Power, and Jerika Mays, executive director of the Seager Memorial Clinic, pose Saturday, June 10, 2023, with an oversized check representing money from a grant awarded to the clinic to partially fund a new renewable energy system.
OGDEN — A solar energy project will help Seager Memorial Clinic cut its power bills, allowing more money to go toward serving the clinic’s underserved population.
On June 10, the clinic held a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the renewable energy project funded by Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program and private donors in the community. The 65-panel array with a 25-kilowatt solar and 10-kilowatt battery system has been installed at the clinic’s new location, 539 E. 24th St.
“The total cost of the project was just over $98,500, and the Blue Sky program provided a $75,534 grant. The remainder of the project was funded by generous donors,” said the clinic’s executive director, Jerika Mays.
The Seager Clinic serves the homeless community and those who live in shelters or low-income housing. It provides a broad range of services including primary and specialty care, eye exams, dental exams, medications, lab work, diabetes management, cancer screenings and more at no cost to patients.
During the ceremony, the clinic honored Dr. Richard White, a local cardiologist who passed away in 2022. Mays said White was instrumental in obtaining solar panels at the Ogden Rescue Mission, which currently houses the majority of Seager Clinic, as well as campaigning for the panels at its new location.
“It was Dr. White’s dream to install solar panels on the Seager Memorial Clinic’s new building because he cared deeply about renewable energy and caring for the most vulnerable in our community,” Mays said. “He started the Blue Sky application in 2021 and I completed the application after his passing.”
White volunteered at the clinic for over 30 years. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, his daughter, Ann-Margaret White, said the clinic was near and dear to her father’s heart.
“I know how disappointed he would be to miss this great party,” she said. “I have a strong feeling that somehow, some way, he is having a bad case of FOMO (fear of missing out) right now.”
White said, growing up, her father constantly reminded his children to be respectful of natural resources, insisting they minimize their carbon footprint.
“My father loved the beauty of Utah. He loved the trails and the skiing and he wanted to protect it for future generations. He was determined to be less wasteful.” she said.
Utah currently has around 50,000 customers participating in the Blue Sky Program, said Kirk Nigro, regional business manager for Rocky Mountain Power.
“That is the equivalent environmental impact greenhouse gas reduction of taking 21,000 vehicles off the road each year,” he said.
The new building, donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Michel Foundation, will be 10 times the size of the clinic’s current location and will be equipped with 10 to 12 exam rooms and three to four dental rooms. It’s expected to be up and running fully by the summer of 2024.