By Paul Hall on Thursday, February 3rd, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Information provided by Grande Ronde Hospital) On January 26, 2022, the Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics (GRH) Board of Trustees (BOT) approved a plan to move forward with a significant expansion of our hospital building. Over the past three years we have evaluated and refined our Master Facility Plan with an initial strategic focus on our operating rooms (ORs).
With our success these past few years in recruiting more primary care providers as well as physicians with surgical privileges to our team, our surgical services volumes have continued to grow. We have outgrown the space currently occupied by our ORs and procedure rooms. In addition, GRH has known for several years that we would need to address state code compliance within the ORs by the year 2028 or seek an extension. We chose to address it now.
“This new expansion will empower GRH to continue recruiting and retaining providers, which supports our efforts in providing expanded services to our community,” said BOT Chair Teri Champlin.
For the past couple of years, GRH has worked with national consultants and healthcare specific architects, while leveraging data-driven tools to determine the scope of this new build. We asked our surgical services staff for input and feedback, and conducted four onsite visits to other regional hospitals in order to help us understand what worked well for them and what they wish they had done differently.
All of these efforts were undertaken to help us design and build a facility we will be proud of for generations to come, while also solving the space constraints and current patient and process flow limitations we face. This expansion will also provide us with some additional space for future options; an important consideration when looking at our current campus.
“With more than a century of caring for the citizens of Union County and beyond, this investment will strengthen our ability to continue that legacy for future generations. It is also a testament to our wonderful providers and staff, as well as the strong community support we have received,” said GRH President and CEO Jeremy Davis. The target date to begin construction is anticipated as early as summer of 2022, with a completion date in 2024. Some of this timeline may change, as this is a complex and multi-faceted project. We look forward to keeping our community up to date as decisions and changes continue to be made moving forward.