Sanford Health Celebrates Groundbreaking for New Fargo Medical Center

Sanford_Fargo_MC_groundbreaking_RFARGO, N.D. — Sanford Health leaders recently broke ground on the largest private construction project in the history of the Dakotas, the new Sanford Fargo Medical Center. Set to open in 2016, the medical center is a $541-million project, one of the largest in the nation to break ground this year. Mortenson Construction, partnering with Nor-Son, Inc., has been selected to build the new center. AECOM is the project architect.

After continued evaluation of local market needs, the project’s size has grown since its initial announcement in 2010. In 2011 alone, Sanford Fargo saw a nine percent increase in hospital admissions. Emergency center visits are up by eight percent in the past year and Sanford continues to see growth in deliveries, outpatient surgeries and heart surgeries.

As a state, North Dakota is booming. In 2005, there were 4,500 oil workers in the state; in 2012, there are more than 35,000. In 2011, almost 36 percent of North Dakota’s population lived in an area experiencing primary care shortages: about 15-percent higher than the national average. About 58 percent of Sanford’s downtown Fargo campus patients come from outside the metro area and a new medical center is critical in supporting those patients — and the continued growth in North Dakota.

The medical center will serve more than 4,200 patients daily and will be located in southwest Fargo. The 10-story project will include 460 hospital beds, 12 heart catheterization labs and interventional rooms, 32 operating rooms and 51 emergency department bays. By 2018, the new medical center will include more than 260 practicing physicians working in 48 different specialties. Sanford  employs more than 7,500 staff in Fargo/Moorhead and the medical center will create an additional 2,000 full-time, permanent positions.

Approximately 600 construction workers from the area will be employed as local and regional contractors for the project. The size and scope of the building is significant. The facility will cover 1.3-million-square-feet, which equates into 29.8 acres or 22 ½ football fields. The space will include 737 bathrooms, 347 clinic exam rooms, 77 clinic procedure rooms, 1,333 windows and 2.2 million bricks.

Interior spaces have been designed to separate staff and patient areas wherever possible to reduce noise and interruptions for patients and families. PatientSFMC_Rendering_R transfers, food delivery, supply stocking, etc. will occur in separate zones to maximize the patient’s experience. In order to accommodate patient convenience, the design will include a separate discharge door for patients leaving the hospital after their stay. Expecting mothers ready to deliver will be directed to arrive at a separate women’s entrance with an elevator, taking them directly to the labor and delivery area, expediting the admitting process.

Emergency center services will be located at the new medical center with a helipad directly above to allow critically ill patients quick access to care. The new medical center’s proximity to both I-94 and I-29 will also allow for increased response times for local and regional ambulances.

Upon completion of the new medical center, Sanford Health will continue to remodel the existing downtown campus and expand the Roger Maris Cancer Center. The downtown campus will occupy over 600,000-square-feet with 220 private rooms and is expected to employ 2,000 staff members. Services at the downtown campus will include behavioral health, palliative care, physical rehabilitation and eating disorders.

When the new medical center is complete, Sanford Health will house 680 beds in the Fargo/Moorhead community.

Photo and rendering courtesy of Sanford Health.

Tags:

Posted August 9, 2012

More Articles: