Verde Valley Medical Center is in the process of a building improvement and expansion project that has added 100,000 square feet to VVMC’s former 225,000 square feet, and is remodeling and renovating 45,000 square feet to the current facility. Time frame for the $39 million project is approximately 33 months.

The project, approved by the VVMC Board of Directors in 2005, was in the planning phase for two years. A ceremonial groundbreaking in November 2006 kicked off the official start to construction, which is expected to be completed in fall 2009.

According to Alan Everett, VVMC Board of Directors chairman and Sedona resident, the project will meet a combination of current and future healthcare needs of the region.

“One aspect of the project will help address immediate and unprecedented demand in patient visits to the Emergency department, which had grown from treating 18,000 individuals in 2003 to treating more than 24,000 patients in 2006.

At the same time, we are constructing brand new medical/surgical and monitored care units that will feature 47 private rooms.” Everett added, “We also will be creating approximately 48,000 square feet of shell space. This is space that will be built out now to capture economies of scale while the contractors are on site, with an eye forward to the anticipated population growth of the communities VVMC serves. By building the shell space now, we will save the inflated costs of future construction, which sometimes can grow by double digit percentages annually. This gives us the flexibility to finish the spaces one at a time, quickly and cost-effectively, as future needs arise.”

Rick Peterson, VVMC’s vice president for Support Services, is overseeing the construction and renovations.

“We contracted with Hospital Building and Equipment Corporation (HBE) of St. Louis, the largest hospital design and build company in the country, to aid in the design and construction management aspects of the project,” said Peterson. “HBE specializes in jobs of this type for hospitals throughout the United States.”

Some of the benefits Peterson believes patients and visitors will realize soon after completion of the project are how much easier it will be to find their way around the facility and how much closer similar services will be grouped together.

Peterson stated, “One of the fundamental objectives of the project is to make movement throughout the hospital easier, more convenient and less confusing for everyone who works, is cared for, or visits here.”

Some parts of the hospital that will see either new or renovated space include:

• New women’s health area that will feature a separate imaging (X-ray) suite, two ultrasound rooms, two mammography rooms, and a stereotactic bone density room
• Private waiting area for exclusive use by imaging patients and guests
• New Laboratory suite with four draw stations
• Relocated Respiratory Care Services
• Renovated Cardiology Services area
• Expanded Emergency department
• New Perinatal Services department with C-section/OR suite