Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital begins vertical expansion

Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital is excited to launch construction on the vertical expansion project, adding three additional floors and 72 beds to the west patient tower of the hospital. In total, the expansion project will include an additional 60,000 square feet.

“We are thrilled to begin construction on the vertical expansion at Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital,” said Gordon Ferguson, president and CEO of Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital and president of Saint Thomas Health regional hospitals. “As the Rutherford County community continues to grow, it is essential the hospital expands to meet the healthcare needs of the growing population, and we are honored to be a community partner throughout this time of growth.”

The vertical expansion will include finishing the sixth and seventh floors for immediate use, while the eighth floor will be shelled in for future expansion, when needed. The expansion also includes a two-story addition with ground level support space, storage space and four additional operation rooms on the second floor.

The expansion project is in partnership with Gresham Smith and Partners and Turner Construction and is expected to be completed by mid-year 2020.

The expansion project also includes the addition of the Clinical Decision Unit, which was opened earlier this year adjacent to the Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital emergency department. The 25-bed Clinical Decision Unit is designed for patients staying less than 24 hours. This addition allows Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital to care for patients at the most appropriate site and provides space for additional testing to determine the patients’ needs in a more cost-effective manner. In total, the expansion project cost is estimated at $82 million.

In the last year alone, Saint Thomas Health has added 42 new physicians to its medical staff in Rutherford County. In the last five years, nearly 200 new physicians have joined, for a total of more than 400 medical staff members in Rutherford County.

Additionally, Saint Thomas Health is in the early planning stages of developing an ambulatory surgery center adjacent to the New Salem care center.