Expansion to meet growing
healthcare needs of community

Receiving outstanding community feedback and suggestions, Memorial Community Hospital’s Board of Directors voted to approve a $24.5 million facility construction and renovation project. The vote came after completing a series of community feedback forums. Ground breaking for the two-phased, 69,000-square-foot addition, plus the renovation of existing space, is set for May 18, 2007. Completion of the facility is anticipated sooner than originally planned-- within two years.

Throughout the past five decades, Memorial Community Hospital has undergone physical changes to better meet the healthcare needs of the growing community. But these many additions to the facility have resulted in an inefficient and insufficient flow for patient care, as well as privacy challenges. Space restrictions have limited growth in surgical services, as well as growth for the increasing demand of outpatient specialty services. With a 15 percent population growth in the hospital’s primary service area anticipated in the next 10 years, the need for an expansion has become imperative.  

TSP, Inc., a professional design services firm in Omaha, has been hired to guide the design of the facility. The company has vast experience in designing hospitals and utilizes an individualized approach to each project. The first phase will feature new construction, including:

• A two-story addition and basement, as well as a new main entrance
• New, larger radiology, laboratory and emergency services departments
• A new medical/surgical unit with private patient rooms built for comfort and confidentiality on the second floor; as well as a centralized labor and delivery department
• Increased parking

The second phase, anticipated for completion in the winter of 2010, will:

• Remodel, reorganize and reassign existing space to increase efficiency and speed in vital hospital departments
• Provide a new surgery center with two operating rooms and prep and recovery areas
• Expand the outpatient specialty clinic to accommodate visiting physician specialists
• Relocate business office functions to the basement of the new addition for easy patient access

With a proven history of strong financials, MCH has paid down its debt and built its cash reserves, putting the hospital in an excellent position to increase its debt capacity to cover the majority of the costs of an expansion. MCH is also asking for community support, with a goal to raise between $2 million and $2.5 million.

MCH will continue to be guided by financial stewardship. This project will not raise local hospital rates beyond what have been consistent increases from previous years. The hospital remains a locally-controlled community organization. By adding on and making changes to its current site, MCH will continue the tradition that was started 50 years ago and create a more efficient use of space that will meet and exceed the needs of patients far into the future.