Posted: 5/9/07
SCRMC breaks ground on new surgical center
 Dr. Lloyd Olson, who served as general surgeon at SCRMC for 31 years, breaks ground on the surgery center that will bear his name. |
After more than a year of planning and pouring over plans, blueprints, and renderings, St. Croix Regional Medical Center broke ground on the new Lloyd Olson Surgery Center last week.
This new addition will be a tremendous asset to the residents of our community," said Lenny Libis, SCRMC CEO. "With it, we will be able to serve more patients more quickly here in our own community. We believe this is what our community expects from us: superb inclusive care, close to home."
According to Libis, the Medical Center recognized some years ago that its surgery/recovery area needed to expand in order to provide the services the community needs. "That need has only grown since then," said Libis. After a good deal of research and consultations with architects, Libis and the Board of Directors decided late last year to take down part of the original 1954 hospital building, which is one-story and basement-less, and replace it with a larger, 39,800 sq. ft. structure that will combine and house all surgery and related services, as well as materials handling facilities.
This section will provide room for future expansion with its 9500 sq ft second floor being available for inpatient care or other uses. "Our business continues to grow," said Libis, "and this addition will increase our Medical Center's potential and help us stay on the leading edge of health care for many years to come."
"We are very excited about this new addition to our Medical Center because it will provide our patients and community with new, large state-of-the-art inpatient and same-day surgical facilities," said Laura Jenson, Vice-President Patient Care Services. The new surgery center expands the number of operating suites from three to six, with space for a seventh suite in the future. These new suites are larger and will be equipped with the latest technology. In addition, fourteen private pre- and post-operative rooms will replace the existing recovery services area, and a family waiting area will be located in the new atrium.
Once the decision was made to build this Surgery Center, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to name it after Dr. Lloyd Olson, the medical Center's first general surgeon, as a way to acknowledge and honor his 35-year commitment to SCRMC. "The degree of commitment Dr. Olson gave this hospital, our medical staff, and our entire community will never be equaled," said Lenny Libis, SCRMC CEO. "Nearly all of his time here, Dr. Olson was the hospital's only surgeon; he was on-call 24 hours a day, every day providing a very wide range of services. We want to publicly recognize his tremendous commitment, and naming this new Surgery Center in his honor one token of our appreciation of his work. We are committed to upholding the standard of care and commitment that Dr. Olson exemplified in his years here."
The surgery center building is also being built to support a rooftop helipad. With nearly 80 helicopter transports a year, a helipad will reduce the turnaround time for patients with critical injuries or illnesses that require the services of a trauma or heart center. The Medical Center will carry out a fund raising effort to add this feature to the building in 2008.
When construction is completed in early 2008, the Medical Center's main entrance will be relocated to what is now the back of the building on State street. "Since the Highway Department redirected Highway 8 traffic from Adams Street to State Street several years ago," explained Libis, "virtually all vehicles first approach our building on State Street. For this reason, it made sense to make this change."
An enlarged State Street entrance will substantially improve the Medical Center's appearance (see architectural drawing). The consolidation of facilities through the design of the surgery center will reduce the number of entrances to SCRMC to two: one for clinic services on Adams Street, and the other for emergency/hospital services on State Street.
The Medical Center also plans to work with the city of St. Croix Falls to conceal/beautify the State Street parking lots. "We want to make this entrance and this part of our property as patient-accessible as possible, as well as attractive to those using the building or simply driving past it," said Libis.
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