CMH to break ground on large-scale expansion

Citizens Memorial Hospital is ready to break ground on a large-scale expansion project announced last year.

The health system has scheduled a Sept. 28 groundbreaking ceremony at its Bolivar campus, according to a news release. The total project is estimated at $100 million, with construction costs making up around $84 million of that figure, said CMH spokesperson Tamera Heitz-Peek.

“This groundbreaking is in conjunction with the 41st anniversary of the hospital opening on Sept. 28, 1982,” said Michael Calhoun, CEO and executive director of CMH and the Citizens Memorial Health Care Foundation, in the release. “All inpatient areas will move to the expansion. We will repurpose space within the current hospital facility after construction is complete.”

The three-story, 117,000-square-foot expansion on the south side of campus is designed to double the hospital's size. An expanded emergency department, private medical and surgical patient rooms, and a large intensive care unit and birthing area are among plans for the space.

Construction is expected to start early next year after a series of "make-ready" projects, officials say, that include relocating offices and adding parking this fall.

CMH earlier this year hired J.E. Dunn Construction Group Inc. for the project after previously bringing on HMN Architects Inc. as project architect, according to past reporting.