Sanford Heart Hospital Now Open

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Sanford Health announces the opening of the new Sanford Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls. Attached directly to Sanford USD Medical Center, the 205,000 square-foot Sanford Heart Hospital introduces highly advanced, integrated and personalized heart care to the region. Henry Carlson Company served as general contractor with Ellerbe Becket, an AECOM Company, as project architect.

The building houses 750 doctors, nurses and support specialists who will have direct access to Sanford Health colleagues across many spectrums of care and is equipped from the ground up with the latest in life-saving technologies.

“Staff, nurses and a team of dedicated physicians began our cardiovascular program in the 1970s,” says Charles P. O’Brien, MD, president of Sanford USD Medical Center. “The official opening of Sanford Heart Hospital is a celebration of their pioneering … and a natural progression in continuing to provide our patients with quality care.”

The project team received feedback from physicians, nurses, researchers, staff and current and former Sanford Heart patients. The result is a building that features the signature Sanford collegiate gothic design that houses an ideal environment to allow Sanford Heart’s skilled professionals to care for patients in both the preventative and emergency or episodic settings.

“The Sanford Heart Hospital consolidates all services for cardiac patients into one building to provide easy access,” said Sanford Heart Hospital cardiologist Tom Stys, M.D. “We prefer to serve our patients in or near their hometown, but if they have to come to Sioux Falls, we want to make it as convenient as possible. We do that by offering state-of-the-art technologies but also many comforts of home.”

A healing environment spans the entire hospital and includes special recessed lighting, music, a massage area, aromatherapy and custom artwork. To that end, Sanford Heart partnered with local artists to produce 130 commissioned works of art for the building. Each of the six floors features custom-designed artwork that both supports a unique theme and highlights the area communities.

For more information, visit heart.sanfordhealth.org or sanfordhealth.org/Newsroom.

Building facts:
•    More than 80 percent of construction companies were from Sioux Falls
•    Building features 62,808 shingles, 430 exterior windows and 74 bathrooms
•    Building is 122 feet tall from the ground to the top of the tower
•    Consists of 1,562 tons of structural steel and 326 tons of rebar within concrete foundation
•    Makore wood in the lobby is from Africa
•    Limestone in the lobby is from Mankato, Minn.