On October 11, 2013, the Oneida County Hospital began doing business as the Nell J. Redfield Memorial Hospital. The name change was made to honor the Redfield family, especially Nell Jones Redfield, who have generously supported the Hospital through the years. 

Nell Jones grew up in Malad and made frequent trips back to her hometown after her marriage to LaVere Redfield.  They lived in southern California until 1935 when they moved to Reno, Nevada, which had become a haven for millionaires trying to avoid paying state taxes. Nevada did not have state taxes.

As one of the original real estate developers and business/casino owners of Reno, LaVere Redfield amassed a large fortune. After LaVere’s death in 1974 and having no children, his wife Nell established a charitable foundation that focuses on education, health care, needy women and children, and care for the homeless poor, among other causes. The Redfield Foundation primarily awards grants to Northern Nevada communities, including the University of Nevada-Reno, but the exception has been Malad, which has been the beneficiary of Nell’s love for her hometown.

In addition, many of Nell J. Redfield’s nieces, nephews, and other relatives, most with Malad roots, have donated generously to the local Hospital. Although deceased now, Nell’s sister Iris Jones Brewerton, nieces Alyce Jones, Jeane Jones, Denee Jones, and Dawn Abbot, and nephews Tom L Jones and Dick Jones have individually and collectively made monetary donations of over $1.2 million to the Nell J. Redfield Memorial Hospital. Other donations have been made to the Oneida County Library, which has a wing named for Nell. J. Redfield.

Nell Redfield died in 1981, but her namesake foundation continues to award millions of dollars every year to causes that meet the criteria Nell specified. In the past 15 years, the Nell J. Redfield Foundation has awarded the following grants, totaling $686,002, to our local hospital: 

2009 anesthesiology machine $23,000

2010 endoscope $13,000

2011 x-ray machine $25,000

2012 immunoassay machine $55,000

2013 emergency generator $58,000

2015 HVAC system $82,000

2016 replacement roof $85,000

2017 heart monitoring system $59,500

2018 security system $25,000

2019 radiology equipment/lab remodel $74,000

2021 3 defibrillators for ER $41,502

2022 replacement doors $85,000

2024 OR table and lighting in OR $60,000

The history of the Redfield family is full of stories of LaVere Redfield, usually called an eccentric Reno millionaire, but the Nell J. Redfield Hospital preserves his wife’s memory and is the beneficiary of Nell’s generosity and love for her hometown.