St Mary Medical Center Expands Into Apple Valley
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St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley is deeply committed to the needs of its growing community – a community that just happens to be the fastest-growing area in the entire St. Joseph Health System‚ which includes a dozen member hospitals throughout the state.
The vision of St. Mary Medical Center remains constant‚ according to Vice President Bob Diehl. The goal: to pro vide Victor Valley with health facilities that will not only meet but exceed its current and future needs.
“The St. Joseph Health System sees this as an area of great potential‚” Diehl says.
Expansion of its Apple Valley campus is under way‚ and a new‚ 112-bed facility will be built in the next five to seven years‚ with long-range plans to extend the new hospital to more than 400 beds over a quarter century as population levels change.
“Apple Valley’s current renovation and service-line extensions are important improvements to the existing hospital‚” Diehl says.
Service-line growth includes the installation and integration of new CT equipment‚ updated cardiac cath eterization labs‚ additional emergency department treatment bays‚ beds in a new telemetry unit‚ and a much-needed expansion of parking facilities.
An off-campus SMMC ambulatory surgery center now is open. The center affords more efficient use of in-hospital operating room suites for acute cases. Non-acute procedures will be scheduled in the ambulatory surgery center‚ making the hospital surgical facilities even more prepared to handle the needs of the growing area.
One hundred acres on the west side of the Interstate 15 corridor were purchased to erect the new SMMC campus. The new hospital‚ south of Bear Valley Road and north of Main Street‚ will offer easy freeway access for ambulance traffic and plenty of room for a large-scale hospital to serve Victor Valley’s further growth in the coming decades.
Choosing the new hospital’s site was difficult. Diehl says the SMMC board of trustees considered the responsibility of proper placement carefully. Since Victor Valley was considered “under bedded‚” offering easy access to the most residents was critical.
Board members considered prop erties throughout the area before settling on the location.
SMMC planners now are faced with a new challenge. Under current consideration is the feasibility of adding a trauma center. The new trauma center would be the only facility of its kind between San Bernardino and Las Vegas.
Because trauma centers often involve county funding and partnerships‚ a move to integrate a trauma center into SMMC’s campus can be complicated‚ but as with the planning and development of the new hospital‚ the SMMC board of directors is optimistic it will make the dream a reality.
Story by Michelle Lovato
Photo by Wes Aldridge
