St. Anthony Announces Plans For New Surgery Center

St. Anthony Regional Hospital has begun a 120,000 square foot, four-story expansion project, including a 30,000 square foot inpatient/outpatient surgery center with state-of-the-art surgical technology.  One hundred ten (110) covered parking spaces with elevator access to the surgery center are included in the $25 million project.

The new construction project will replace St. Anthony’s 35 year-old surgery facilities and existing technology.  The surgery department has grown from two surgeons in 1971 to eight active surgeons who live in Carroll today.  The last significant investment to the Surgery Department was in 1992, with the introduction of the Same Day Surgery unit.  Since 1992, the number of surgeries performed at St. Anthony has grown dramatically, from 2,073 in 1992 to 4,503 in 2006, an increase of 117.2%.

The surgery center is the result of more than three years of planning by the hospital board and administration, surgery staff, physicians, architects and contractors.  A hospital planning committee visited six (6) hospitals that had recently completed construction in their surgery areas.  The new facility design incorporates the best practices from surgery facilities in the upper Midwest, meeting the current and future needs of St. Anthony patients, physicians, and employees. The Surgery Center will provide the convenience of an ambulatory surgery center with the safety of a hospital inpatient Surgery Department.

Family-centered care in the St. Anthony Surgery Center will begin with surgery patients going directly to the surgery center for admission, and will feature electronic patient tracking to keep family members informed about the patient’s progress during pre-op, surgery and recovery.  Beepers will be provided so that family members can be contacted at any time.  Two private family consultation rooms will also be available.

Also included in the surgery project are:

  • 20 private Same Day Surgery pre/post-operation rooms

  • 2 modernized endoscopy suites

  • 4 operating rooms, with the ability to expand to 6

-   each operating room (OR) will be 33% larger than current ORs to                
                accommodate the latest computerized equipment  
            -   each OR has laminar air flow, a sophisticated air flow system that greatly 
                reduces the risk of infection

  • 9 PAR (recovery) beds

  • On-site sterile services to allow efficiency in sterilization of equipment

  • An underground connector (tunnel) from the existing first floor of the hospital to the surgery center for support services, including radiology and pharmacy

  • Skywalk access from the new surgery center to the existing third floor medical/surgical and intensive care unit (ICU)

  • 110 covered parking spaces with elevator accessibility to the third floor surgery center

The planning goals for the new facility are as follows:

  • Modern outpatient and inpatient surgery environment with state-of-the-art technology and
    equipment, including an enhanced level of quality patient care

  •  Improved service, efficiency and convenience for patients, surgeons, and staff

  • Privacy for outpatients in pre and post-op areas

  • Greater potential for recruitment of new surgeons and surgery-employed nurses and staff

  • Increased surgeries and expanded revenues which support St. Anthony’s mission, including long
    term care, mental health and emergency services

  • Increased parking convenience/availability

  • Encouraged growth of referrals from lower acuity hospitals and an expanded role as regional provider of specialty services

  • Needed space for emergency and radiology departments, clinic expansion, and expansion for future needed inpatient beds

The project will be funded through hospital reserves and a projected borrowing of $12 million. The project began in July 2006 and is planned for completion in 30 months (January 2009).

Parking:

In order to facilitate the surgery project, parking for St. Anthony’s patients and visitors will be impacted.  Beginning on August 1, a portion of the north parking lot will no longer be available; however, limited public parking will remain on the north side of the new addition.  The north driveway and drive-through will remain open to allow access to the north atrium entrance of the hospital and to physicians’ offices.  Until the expected completion of the project in 2009, a shuttle bus will be operating on the campus like it did during the recent acute care expansion.  St. Anthony appreciates the understanding and cooperation of our visitors to accommodate these necessary parking changes during the construction process.

Architects for the project are Horty Elving & Associates, construction manager is Graham Construction. General contractor for phase one of the surgery center is Badding Construction.

Click Here to see the building design.