Hospitals Deliver New Buildings, Services In Quest For Patients
by July 27, 1998 12:00 am 47 views
If Northwest Arkansas residents hope to find more medical services and facilities available locally as the area grows, they’re in luck.
The region’s hospitals, vying for patients in an increasingly competitive market, are building, renovating and expanding services.
Just within the last month, one hospital announced construction plans for a new facility while another opened a new cancer unit
Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville said it would build a $10 million hospital for women.
Regional Women and Children’s Center is the first development announced by hospital officials for an 80-acre site in Fayetteville’s North Hills Medical Park. The new hospital — a 50,000-SF, two-story facility — is expected to cater to women’s needs.
Plans call for 12 private patient rooms, 18 labor-delivery-recovery-postpartum rooms, four surgical suites, eight recovery rooms, nursery, laboratory and ultrasound services, private consultation rooms, educational space and family space.
On the hospital’s second floor will be space for 18 physicians’ offices and their examination rooms.
Construction is expected to take about 11 months.
Other hospitals are also going after their share of the obstetrics market. Bates Medical Center in Bentonville, a part of the Northwest Health System Inc., had discontinued deliveries several years ago. But now the hospital is adding new facilities and expects to begin delivering babies again by year’s end.
Washington Regional claims to deliver more babies than other local hospitals with about 2,000 deliveries annually. St. Mary’s Hospital in Rogers reports about 1,200 deliveries there each year while Northwest Medical Center in Springdale says it delivers about 1,000 babies annually.