St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center in Dickinson shares plans to break ground on new facility

• Hospital

Press Photo by Betsy Simon A patient is unloaded outside of one of the entrances to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center in Dickinson Monday. As early as this summer, ground is expected to be broke on a new hospital and medical office on a 40-acre property west of the West River Community Center.

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St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center in Dickinson announced its plans Friday to build a community hospital and medical office building as part of its 2013 fiscal year budget.

Construction could begin as early as this summer, said Reed Reyman, president and CEO of St. Joseph's.

“We need to have both facilities completed by 2015, and we believe that is a sufficient timeline,” Reyman said. “There’s been no definite construction timeline established, but we would like to break ground sometime late this summer or early in the fall.

Ideally, they would be in the medical office about a year after that. Then, they will break ground on the hospital as late as the spring.

The facility will be built on a 40-acre property west of the West River Community Center that was purchased by the hospital and Catholic Health Initiatives about 18 months ago.

Reyman said the estimated cost is between $90 million and $110 million.

The local CHI board began eyeing a new facility in 2009.

Reyman said the intent was to begin construction five to seven years down the road, but the timeline was sped up due to increased activity at the hospital.

The hospital plans to work with the community to raise a portion of the funds for construction.

“We couldn’t be happier or more thankful about this decision,” said Jodi Bosch, director of St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation. “The community’s support will play a key role in making this project a reality. Many have already stepped forward to pledge their support. It’s a wonderful opportunity for our area.”

In 2012, St. Joseph’s celebrated its 100th year in the community, outliving the typical lifespan of a hospital, which Reyman said is about 50 years.

He added that two developers are looking at the current hospital.

“This facility will be utilized after we leave, and we will have a plan to meet the original intent of the Sister of Holy Cross and have something here that will benefit the community,” Reyman said. “We have the budgetary process complete and are meeting with the staff and physicians so everyone is on track before we start to build. We need to build and expand with the community, and the new hospital will help us to provide more efficient care.

"The facility has met needs adequately in past, but it is difficult to do 21st-century medicine in a 20th-century building, Reyman said. “Inpatient stays are different today and we need more space for outpatient care and emergency room care. Instead of being a tower of beds, a new hospital will give us space for doing more procedures.”

The construction timeline works perfect for CHI, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center Board Chairman Mike Lefor said in a press release.

“This is impeccable timing on the part of CHI,” Lefor said. “It falls right in line with our long term strategic planning and we appreciate CHI’s willingness to identify the needs of the community and to then fit the capital budget schedule to meet those needs.”

According to a press release, Jeffrey Drop, senior vice president of the North Dakota/Minnesota Division of CHI in Fargo, said funds were secured for the project when the need for a new hospital in Dickinson became

evident.

“Once it became clear that Dickinson and the surrounding area which St. Joseph’s Hospital serves had a significant need for a new facility now, we accelerated the plan,” he said. “We’ve seen the community’s support of the hospital.

“We’ve seen the increased use in services and the high ratings that St. Joseph’s Hospital receives for its quality of care. We responded by getting these dollars available as quickly as possible for this new structure.”

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