The project will include a 175,000-sf, five-story patient toweradjacent to the hospital's parking ramp, a 15,000-sf addition to aremodeled emergency room, a $500,000 helipad, a new lobby and newhomes for its Heart Center and Neurovascular Institute. Anothergoal of the renovation at St. Joseph's is to have 100% privaterooms for the medical and surgical patients.

Boldt Consulting has been hired to plan the project, andinterviews with architectural firms are underway. HealthEast hasallocated $3.5 million for the development of building plans, whichwill continue throughout the next year followed by a groundbreakinganticipated in early 2006. The entire project will take severalyears to complete.

"As HealthEast's primary provider of specialty services such ascardiovascular and neuroscience services, St. Joseph's Hospital hasexperienced consistent growth and increased patient demand sincethe mid-'90s," says Tim Hanson, president and chief executiveofficer of HealthEast. St. Joseph's is the latest in a string ofrecent expansion announcements by the region's health careindustry, which was hurt by an oversupply of hospital beds andservices in the 1980s but now expects a boom in patients as thepopulation ages.