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New Stafford hospital rounding into shape
By this time next year, the Stafford Hospital Center will be open
BY JIM HALL
Date published: 5/2/2008
BY JIM HALL
The perimeter road is nearly done, the interior walls are almost finished and job applications are pouring in.
"On the third and fourth floors, it actually looks like hospital rooms up there," said Walt Kiwall, MediCorp Health System executive vice president.
About 50 people showed up in Stafford last night to hear Kiwall's update on the new hospital. He spoke at a forum sponsored by the MediCorp Regional Health Care Advisory Council.
MediCorp, parent company of Mary Washington Hospital, is building the 100-bed hospital on U.S. 1 near the Stafford courthouse.
Hospital construction started about two years ago on a 73-acre "green-field site" with "no utilities, no roads, basically nothing but trees," Kiwall said.
Today, there is a four-story building, asphalt parking lots, curb and gutter and even a back-up generator on the property.
Construction of a medical office building will begin this month, and plans are under way for a child-care center for up to 300 children.
A committee of doctors meets weekly to decide the call duties and credentials needed for the new medical staff. One suggestion is that the staff include "laborists," or doctors who specialize in the delivery of babies.
For the remainder of the staff, there are recruitment ads running, scholarships funded and a MySpace page created.
So far, 500 applications have been received for the 350 opening-day jobs.
"A lot of folks want to work at a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility," Kiwall said.
The volunteer auxiliary is forming and has found space for its thrift shop.
And the Mary Washington Hospital Foundation has supplied $3.5 million in seed money to set up a Stafford Hospital Center Community Service Fund.
The fund will make its first grants this month to non-profit agencies and Stafford health projects.
The Stafford Hospital Center, along with HCA's new hospital in Spotsylvania County, are Virginia's first truly new hospitals in many years. All others have involved the transfer of beds from existing hospitals.
"It's really taken form," Kiwall said of the Stafford facility.
Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com
Date published: 5/2/2008
Most recent reader comments:
Well they (illegals) probably built most of it
(posted by
slarrivee
, May 2, 2008 1:51 pm)
May as well let them use it to until ICE gets off their arse and ships them back home....
Will the new hospital have a psychiatric unit....
(posted by
Chiswald
, May 2, 2008 11:35 am)
for treating delusional paranoids who obsess over illegal immigrants?
Give them more credit
(posted by
gramenis
, May 2, 2008 9:28 am)
At least these illegal immigrants are standing on the street corners looking for work unlike some citizens that are looking for booze. These "illegals" are some of the hardest working people out there.
Excellent Facility
(posted by
LibBuster
, May 2, 2008 8:33 am)
We need this hospital desperately. With all the anchor babies being born by illegal immigrant women, this facility will make their birthing process a less dramatic one. Your tax dollars at work to undermine your own society. Thanks Feds.
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