A ribbon-cutting ceremony was live-streamed on June 18, 2020, to celebrate completion of Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford’s widely anticipated $82M vertical expansion project. The 60,000-square foot expansion added three new floors and 72 beds to the west patient tower of the hospital. Four additional operating suites have been completed on the second floor of the hospital.
“We transferred our first 35 patients to one of the new units on June 22nd and are thrilled to have completed construction on-budget and ahead of schedule,” said Gordon B. Ferguson, President and CEO of Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford. “Our vertical expansion project ensures that the hospital continues to meet the healthcare needs of the many people we are honored to serve as Rutherford County grows. We are most grateful to The Christy Houston Foundation and our capital campaign donors for their generous support in helping fund this expansion.”
The hospital’s sixth and seventh floors have been finished for immediate use and the eighth floor has been shelled for future expansion. The ambitious project also allowed for the expansion of the main Materials Management department as well as the Central Sterile Processing area. The hospital’s Imaging department was expanded to accommodate the installation of the state-of-the-art 356 slice CT Scanner.
The expansion project launched in June 2018 with the addition of a Clinical Decision Unit adjacent to Christy-Houston Foundation emergency department. The 25-bed Clinical Decision Unit was created for patients staying less than 24 hours. This addition allows Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford to care for patients at the most appropriate site and provides space for additional testing to determine patients’ needs in the most cost-effective manner.
The $82 million expansion project marks continued significant investment in Ascension Saint Thomas’ system of care in Rutherford County. In the coming months, Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford will also break ground on the New Salem Ambulatory Surgery Center to serve patients with a more convenient and cost-effective outpatient surgery option.
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