Residents tour new hospital
St. Luke’s lauds public’s ‘spirit, hope and
commitment’ at opening celebration
"There’s a lot new around here. But nothing more important
than the new spirit, hope and commitment that our team has—and we hope you all
share—for the future of this medical center and your healthcare."
St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center CEO Jon Moses
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
For most valley residents, Saturday’s community tour and celebration
of the new St. Luke’s hospital was a good opportunity to see the inside of the
facility, because their next visit might be under very different circumstances.
Marilyn Alcamo, 65, for example, watched a demonstration of orthoscopic
operating equipment in one of the new operating rooms.
"I’m having one of these in December," she said.
"It’s not in my knee—it’s all in my back, here."
Nurse Ed Pettigill manipulate a miniature camera inside a hollow, fake
leg. On a video monitor, the dummy’s illness became painfully clear. Its knee was
full of SweetTarts candy and a fake eyeball.
"If we see this, you’re in bad shape," Pettigill joked.
Saturday’s event wrapped up a three-day hospital opening celebration
that included tours for 800 local students, a Thursday night shindig for donors who helped
pay for the $32 million facility, and a Friday night staff party with music and dancing.
St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center officially opens for business
Sunday.
The Boise-based St. Luke’s began planning the 32-bed hospital in
1996, when Blaine County residents voted to replace the publicly run Wood River Medical
Center. Since then, local philanthropists have contributed more than $18 million for the
transition. With nearly all work completed except the final cleaning and sterilization,
anyone who was interested was allowed a behind-the-scenes look last week at everything
from the trauma and surgery rooms to the in-house chapel.
By 11:30 a.m. Saturday, the parking lot was nearly full with the vehicles
of curious visitors. An army of volunteers, administrators, medical staff and St.
Luke’s mascot, Maxwell the Moose, greeted the visitors. Complimentary first-aid kits,
coffee and platters of pastries abounded. The music of the Wood River High School jazz
band reverberated in the two-story, atrium-like lobby.
Everyone, it seemed, was impressed with the opulence of mahogany-stained
wood doors and trim, impressive mountain views from plentiful windows, and a generous
display of art, both donated and from the St. Luke’s permanent collection.
The facility is a major upgrade from the decades-old Hailey and Sun Valley
hospitals that have served Blaine County, and which will close Nov. 19, the same day the
St. Luke’s hospital opens. Public relations manager Kerry George said the
improvements include enclosed patient waiting rooms that help maintain patient privacy and
four new surgery rooms surrounding a state-of-the-art clean room used for sterilizing
equipment.
So far, the hospital’s current departments and units take up 96,000
square feet of the 110,000-square-foot building, leaving room for future expansion.
Administration and medical staff have said, however, that the departments
were built larger than currently needed so the hospital can handle more patients when the
county’s population increases.
Doctors were overjoyed with their new facilities.
In the emergency department, Dr. Jan Rosenquist said, "You usually
don’t see an E.R. this size in this size community."
Chief of medical staff Dr. Frank Fiaschetti said the hospital is more
impressive than many at which he’s practiced in Los Angeles.
Other tour highlights included a vacuum tube system for nearly
instantaneous transport of records and small supplies between departments; a system for
monitoring patients’ vital signs by radio while they move around the hospital; an
isolation room for cleaning toxic contamination victims and for detaining patients who
might endanger themselves or others; and a staff locker room soon to be equipped with ski
lockers.
Visitors were so keen on the self-guided tour that they were reluctant to
gather in the lobby for a short dedication speech by St. Luke’s Wood River Medical
Center CEO Jon Moses.
"There’s a lot new around here," Moses said, standing on a
raised platform and speaking into a public announcement system. "But nothing more
important than the new spirit, hope and commitment that our team has—and we hope you
all share—for the future of this medical center and your healthcare."
Moses’s speech began with a warning that "hospital survival is
not a given." The number of hospitals in the United States is decreasing, while
population skyrockets, he said. He thanked the city of Sun Valley, Blaine County, the
medical staff, the donors, St. Luke’s and the community in general for making the new
hospital possible.
Additional support came after Moses’ speech in the form of a $150,000
check that the hospital’s auxiliary presented to St. Luke’s. Money for the
donation came from the auxiliary’s annual holiday ball and other fundraising events.
