Nearly six years of planning and construction was celebrated this week at Hillcrest Henryetta Hospital.
An open house complete with guided tours showed off the new emergency room, lab and radiology facilities.
Over $3 million was spent on the project according to hospital administrator Dee Renshaw.
Speaking to members of the Henryetta Rotary Club, he said the project started in 2014 and the final touches put on the facility this month.
That included a complete remodel of the emergency room area giving staff members more room to work and providing a more modern treatment area for patients.
"We have about 8,000 emergency room visits each year," Renshaw said. "There were no rooms for triage and now we have two trauma rooms, a special triage room and five exam rooms."
The biggest change for patients is the closure of the old emergency room entrance. Now patients come in the front door of the hospital then are sent off to the right. Ambulatory patients still come in the north door.
Another change was separating the pre-op and surgical recovery rooms. In the past there was one room where everyone was at. That is never a good thing."
Despite the near-daily construction work at the hospital over the past six years, Renshaw said patient satisfaction scores have improved throughout.
He said the addition of the Air Evac helicopter base was also a positive move for the hospital. "We lease the land for the helicopter, hangar and crew quarters for $600 a month. Air Evac spent some $300,000 building the hangar and landing pad."
The helicopter availability is growing each year. In 2016 there were some 77 flights brought to the hospsital. Renshaw said now the average is 360 flights a month taking off and landing. "They fly virtually every day."
Hospital authority and Rotarian David Warden pointed out the decision to partner with Hillcrest 22 years ago has been a positive step for the community.
"Without that partnership, the hospital would not be here today. Before Hillcrest became a partner, the hospital authority was usig the sales tax monies just to pay the electric bills. We now have a modern facility."