Increased use spurs Citizens Memorial Hospital expansion

Citizens Memorial Hospital of Bolivar broke ground March 3 on the largest expansion project in its history.

The two-phase project will take approximately 2 1/2 years to complete. CMH has named HMN as the architect and the Murray Company as the general contractor for the project. Both companies are from Overland Park, Kan.

Kerry Douglas, Citizens Memorial Healthcare board chairman, said the changes are designed to ensure Citizens Memorial remains at the forefront of health care.

"Citizens Memorial Healthcare is about to enter a new era," Douglas said. "This construction is the first of two phases that is designed to ensure that Citizens Memorial Healthcare remains in the forefront of rural health care delivery a place in which we've distinguished ourselves for the past 21 years."

Phase I will take approximately 11 months to complete and will include a new in-house magnetic resonance imaging system, along with expansion of and renovations to the radiology waiting areas.

Additions to the laboratory department will accommodate more testing equipment and a larger waiting area. The emergency department will add three more treatment rooms along with a new covered garage to be used by ambulances.

Plans for the emergency room expansion include a more customer-friendly area for families and patients using the emergency area.

The second phase of construction will begin in October. Phase II will include a 79,500 square-foot, two-story patient tower and the renovation of approximately 38,855 square feet of existing hospital space. Inpatient bed capacity will increase from 74 to 118 beds, and the number of surgical suites will expand from four to eight.

These additions will help accommodate the 11 percent inpatient growth projected to occur between 2002 and 2007.

"Citizens Memorial Hospital has seen exceptional growth during the past few years and we forecast that the trend will continue," Douglas said.

CMH had 12,197 emergency room visits in fiscal year 1998 and 15,997 in 2001 (a 32 percent increase); the number of laboratory tests increased from 87,324 to 117,727 (up 35 percent); the number of radiology tests jumped from 18,347 to 25,071 (up 37 percent.); and the number of cardiopulmonary visits increased from 5,465 to 9,634 (up 76 percent).

According to recent statistics from the Volunteer Hospital Association, the overall CMH service area is expected to grow by 7 percent.

During the next five years, the population of the city of Bolivar is expected to grow by 9 percent, and Polk Country is expected to grow by 8 percent. Bolivar's uninsured rate, at 18 percent, is nearly twice the state average of 10 percent.

Surgeries at CMH increased from 1,780 in 1997-98 to 2,349 in 2001-02. A new sports medicine program added 4,076 more sports medicine procedures in 2001 than in 1998.

The hospital's last expansion was completed in 1996.

Since the hospital opened Sept. 28, 1982, it has grown from 45,072 square feet to nearly 500,000 square feet, including the hospital and long-term care facilities in the area, said Julie Richter, community development coordinator.

The expansion will be funded by Series 2003A and 2003B bonds. The 2003A bonds will raise $14.33 million for phase I of the project.

Richter said the 2003B bonds could generate around $30 million for phase II of the project.

With the issuing of the 2003A bonds Feb. 27, the hospital district also refinanced bonds issued in 1994.

The 2003B bonds will be issued around July 31.