When it comes to high quality medical care in southern Utah, the offerings at Dixie Regional Medical Center just got even better thanks to the St George hospital expansion project.
After years of operating hospital services on two separate campuses, the St George hospital expansion allows all the Intermountain Healthcare services to be consolidated in one area. And of course, they’ve upgraded all kinds of things.
St George hospital expansion tour
Recently, the public was invited to tour the St George hospital expansion area. There was so much to see.
The St George hospital expansion allowed all the services currently offered at the 400 East Campus to join the River Road campus. The services absorbed by River Road Campus include:
* Labor and delivery
* Mom and baby
* Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
* Behavioral medicine
* Cancer center
* Precision genomics
* Intraoperative MRI
* Hyperbaric chamber 
However, these services were not just absorbed into the existing structure. The building grew. Actually, the hospital grew by roughly 500,000 square feet in order to accommodate them all. According to the Intermountain Healthcare web site, the St George hospital expansion cost approximately $300 million. The cancer center cost about $80 million. And the Intermountain Precision Health Center, where the Intermountain Precision Genomics is housed, was slated to be about 117,000 square feet.
Quality care
When moving to a new area, something you definitely want to consider is accessibility of quality healthcare. Even before the St George hospital expansion, this area’s healthcare was top notch. Now, it’s even better.
The list of medical services available at Dixie Regional Medical Center is lengthy. It includes:
* Bariatric surgery
* Behavioral health
* Brain and spine
* Cancer care
* Diabetes
* Endoscopy
* Heart care
* Pediatric rehabilitation
* Sports medicine and performance
* Surgical services
* Women and newborn care
* Wound care
Within each of these specialties is a highly qualified team of caring professionals. From the physicians to the technicians, nurses to medical assistants, the staff at the St George hospital expansion is second to none.
And you don’t have to be sick or ailing to benefit from all this hospital has to offer. A series of classes touching on everything from speed and agility training to hypnobirthing and surgical weight loss are available.
Babies on board
Looking at the St George hospital expansion project specifically, there is so much to understand. For example, the services available for moms and babies.
In an article published on TheSpectrum.com in September, the NICU and other women’s services were slated to be up and running by November. So if your baby is due the last two months of this year and beyond, they’ll be coming into the world in a new place.
One of the many benefits of the new women’s and baby services area of the St George hospital expansion is the extra space.
“We were pushing capacity,” Tiffany Hansen, director of obstetrics and neonatal operations at Intermountain Healthcare, said in The Spectrum article. “These rooms are much larger. And what’s great is there’s more room for family and more room to get together and share this experience.”
There are now 24 beds in the neonatal intensive care unit. The team is equipped to care for babies born as early as 24 weeks gestation.
Mental health care
It’s a topic once straddled with an unfair stigma, but mental health care is breaking down some of those old barriers. It’s certainly an area deserving attention. One that affects more people than some realize.
The St George hospital expansion includes a 24-hour crisis center for patients struggling with thoughts of possibly harming themselves, or who are experiencing other facets of depression, can go to receive the help they need.
There are now 18 beds for in-patient treatment. The additional safety features such as no exposed pipes, half-doors and special glass are all in place to keep patients safe.
No place like home
When you or a loved one are dealing with a cancer diagnosis, the last thing you want is to have to travel great distance for treatment. The new cancer center as part of the St George hospital expansion keeps treatment closer to home.
Which means the world to the many patients the cancer center will treat.
Overall the St George hospital expansion is all about meeting the needs of the community.
“First and foremost it’s about our patients and making sure we’re anticipating their needs now and in the future,” said Mitch Cloward, hospital administrator. “ Secondly, it brings all of our caregivers into a single location.”
The latter will improve collaboration, transportation and communication, according to an article published on StGeorgeNews.com
If you want to live in an area with access to such great healthcare, check out these home listings here.