Hillsdale hospital plans to expand
Michal Elseth
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: News
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Hillsdale Community Health Center is waiting on loan approval to begin construction on an addition that would add 19 nursing home beds to the hospital campus, Judy Gabriele, executive director of development at the hospital, said.
The addition would also house the obstetrics floor, allowing for the old obstetrics floor to be re-modeled into semi-private rooms.
Hillsdale Community Health Center is the only nursing home facility in Hillsdale.
Gabriele said there is always a waiting list for nursing home beds. Many people have to take their aging relatives out of town when they need a nursing home because the wait is too long, she said.
"We know there's still a need for that type of care as the population gets older," City Manager Michael Mitchell said.
The project, proposed two years ago, waits on loan approval from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Gabriele said she once that happens, construction will begin, and she said she hopes they will be able to break ground in the spring.
"This is what you call a shovel-ready project," she said.
All additions and large purchases at health care centers must be approved through the state, Gabriele said, and the plans went through the Food and Drug Administration before being returned to the hospital's executive board.
The addition will bring in roughly 20 new jobs, mostly the certified nursing staff the hospital calls technically advanced personnel.
Mitchell said he hopes the increased traffic to the hospital will also allow the city to ask for state or federal funds for improvements on the roads leading to the hospital, which would temporarily bring in even more jobs.
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