Watford City Ready to Break Ground on Updated Hospital

WATFORD CITY, N.D. — After an oil boom put the quiet community of Watford City on the map, a $59 million hospital is set to break ground this week.

Designed by Karl Kilgore, AIA, EDAC, LEED-AP, the facility will replace a 1950s-era hospital to be able to deliver health care at today’s standards, according to Daniel Kelly, CEO of McKenzie County Healthcare Systems Inc. (MCHS).

“Like many hospitals built in the early 1950s, the facility was designed to provide acute care for inpatients. Today, the majority of care at MCHS is provided in an outpatient setting,” Kelly said.

When the existing facility was built, X-rays were state of the art, and there was no conception of technological advancements, such as CT scans, ultrasound, digital mammography, MRI or any other commonly used diagnostic tools.

“In fact, many of the outpatient departments, such as laboratory, radiology and cardiac rehab are undersized and are not located in a manner to provide cost-effective, quality patient care,” Kelly said. “In addition, these departments are limited by ceiling height, which is needed to accommodate information systems cabling, greater ventilation and other equipment. Efficient care is limited by layout and proximity, since nurses can cover several miles a day going from their station to patient rooms.”

What’s more, Kelly said, patient privacy and infection control were not considered priorities when the original hospital was built. The inpatient unit is made up of all semiprivate rooms, community toileting and bathing facilities, and has a major public/staff corridor through the middle.

“Health care today calls for a healing environment with single patient rooms that offer privacy, safety and space for family visits,” Kelly said.

The new hospital will be added on to the existing skilled-nursing facility. In addition to providing contemporary care, the 120,000-square-foot facility will accommodate a variety of specialists, such as oncologists, OB physicians, orthopedic surgeons, general surgeons, family practice and cardiologists.

“The current design standard for the patient room floor is to provide 100 percent private inpatient beds to improve safety, reduce infection control and create better patient satisfaction by making the area quieter and more private,” Kelly said.

When completed, the 24-bed hospital will offer 10 emergency treatment bays, 30 outpatient clinic-based rooms, private resident rooms for elderly patients that need nursing care, a full-scale laboratory, a comprehensive radiology department, a 32-slice CT scan and outpatient surgery services.

The Watford City hospital has seen a sharp increase in the number of patients since oil company Bakken made western North Dakota a contender in the race for oil. According to the Bismarck Tribune, the hospital’s pre-boom emergency visits numbered about 15 a month. Today, emergency room staff sees upward of 560 patients in a month. The population of the small community has jumped in recent years from 1,500 to an estimated 15,000 and could reach 22,000 within the next decade.

“The new facility will address the current and future health care needs of the hospital community, ensuring that the community will be able to continue to access quality, compassionate medical care in a modern facility close to home,” Kelly said.