Hospital Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for $37 Million Project

MARION, N.C. — Mission Health’s McDowell Hospital campus held a groundbreaking ceremony in Marion on Tuesday to mark the start of construction in front of the current hospital, according to North Carolina’s ABC News affiliate.

Mission Health invested over $37 million in the McDowell Hospital campus to be able to upgrade and expand parts of the hospital. The new facility will feature expanded emergency room services, additional inpatient rooms and updated imaging equipment. The campus will provide a focus on outpatient care and a continuation of health care services, according to ABC News.

The McDowell Hospital is scheduled to be complete in 2017. The additional 30 beds will include five designated labor and delivery suites and 25 reserved for inpatients. The hospital will also include three inpatient/outpatient operating rooms and 12 pre and post-operative bays, with one C-section room. There will be 15 emergency room bays, with two trauma rooms, according to McDowell News.

The 56,000-square-foot hospital will be built in front of the existing McDowell Hospital, which is set to be demolished after the new hospital is complete. This project also includes a new medical office building that will be a 28,000-square-foot facility. The architect working on the new hospital is Charlotte-based Design Strategies of Charlotte and the general contractor will be Charlotte-based Vannoy Construction of Charlotte.

“The biggest thing to me is that building a new facility just reinforces the commitment that we have to addressing the health care needs in our community,” Carol Wolfenbarger, president of McDowell Hospital said to McDowell News. The new hospital will improve safety and efficiency of care and enhance the patient experience by providing a state-of-the-art facility, according to as statement from Mission Health and McDowell Hospital.

Until the construction is complete on the new facility, the existing facility will remain functional, according to McDowell News. The main focus of the new hospital will be outpatient care, but inpatient care will still be available. “Our aim is to build convenient access to care while still providing access to urgent and emergent care. And yes, if your illness requires an in-patient stay, we will be here for you,” Kathy Guyette, senior vice president of Patient Care Services and president of Regional Member Hospitals with Mission Health said in a statement from Mission Health.

Mission Health plans on keeping the future of health care at the forefront of the new facility, and the company believes that McDowell County has a great outlook for the future, according to McDowell News.