SRMC celebrates groundbreaking of "crown jewel" facility

On Wednesday Sidney Regional Medical Center broke ground on the largest hospital of its kind in rural Nebraska.

A crowd of community members, local officials and hospital staff gathered at the future site of the new hospital at 1000 Pole Creek crossing to take part in the ground breaking festivities.

"It's an as heartwarming day as the weather is beautiful today," said city manager Gary Person. "It's really the crown jewel of what will be a very exciting development in east Sidney."

The $53 million facility was partially funded by a $32 million United States Department of Agriculture rural development direct loan as well as by $10 million from other banking partners. The new facility will replace the hospital's current building, constructed in 1953.

The new structure will feature an easier-to-use floor plan as well as space for more providers to join the team. The new building will allow space for 25 private acute care rooms including a four bed intensive care unit, three high tech surgical suites, increased digital imaging services and a Federal Aviation Administration approved helicopter pad.

"I think hours and hours of planning and processes have to be followed to get to this point and to see it actually happen is really exciting," said Sidney Mayor Wendall Gaston. "I think it's good for healthcare and the citizens of Sidney long-term for the next 30 or 40 years."

The hospital worked for 20 months to plan this project. The building should be complete within 16 months.

Jason Petik, the hospital's CEO promised a state of the art campus that would serve Sidney's healthcare needs not only now, but into the future.

He spoke of the birth of Cabela's in 1961 and how the company helped to shape Sidney's growth, with the help of the continued success of agriculture in the area.

"This community has been very fortunate and blessed with the visionary leadership that this community has had," Petik said.

The city, county, local businesses and the school system are always looking toward the future, he added.

"We believe we've designed a healthcare facility that's two and three steps ahead of what success looks like today," Petik said.

The hospital labored to design a structure where it could expand outpatient services to continue to serve the growing community. He stressed that the entire SRMC staff should strive to continue to provide quality, compassionate care.

"New building projects in our community will only succeed when the respective employees in those professions succeed," Petik said. "Bricks, mortar and glass will not ensure quality or success."

He thanked everyone for their support of the project.

"It's a partnership between business, citizens, government and private enterprise, that's what makes these kind of things happens that improves the life and healthcare of all our citizens," Gaston said.

The mayor presented a commemorative shovel to Bill Pile, chairman of SRMC's board of directors to be displayed in the new hospital's foyer.

Pile then read a letter to the crowd from Adrian Smith, Nebraska's third district representative to the House of Representatives.

"Your commitment to your community continues to raise the bar for positive health outcomes for Nebraska," Smith said.

When a community builds hospitals and schools, it shows those looking from the outside that the town has a vision for the future, Person said.

"Sidney's got a lot of things going for it," he said. "$300 million worth of projects on the ground moving forward just this spring. We've become the envy of a lot of rural communities all across the county."

This success all comes down to the grassroots efforts of the citizens who find a way to get things done and are proactive instead of reactive, he said.

Many of those who spoke at the gathering agreed that USDA funding was critical to its success.

"This is, I believe, the largest critical access hospital project in the state of Nebraska in rural Nebraska, at least it's the largest one that USDA rural development has ever been a part of," said USDA Rural Development State Director Maxine Moul.

Hospital staff who attended the event agreed that the new facility will benefit patients and staff.

"I think it'll be a lot better because it's mostly going to be on one floor," said Yvonne Donaldson who works in the hospital's business office. "I think the outpatients will be a little more organized."

The opportunity to add more doctors to the staff will be a positive one, she said.

"I'm very excited about it," Donaldson said.

Kim Iman, a urology nurse at SRMC agreed that the additional space the new facility will provide will be a boon to everyone involved.

"I think it's going to be really good for us to have," she said.

Petik thanked all the city officials who attended the event, as well as representatives from the offices of Sen. Mike Johanns and Sen. Deb Fischer. He also thanked the hospital's board of directors as well as those who coordinated the design and that will work to build the structure, including Project One and Saunders Construction.

"It's a good day," Gaston said.