Mission plans new $350M tower

Buncombe Countys largest employer is embarking on a major transformation, including consolidation of the Mission and St. Josephs campuses, construction of a multistory, $350 million tower and the possible demolition of the St. Josephs building. 

For the past year and a half, Mission has engaged in a preliminary planning processes, getting feedback from about 500 hospital clinicians, as well as extensive input from patients and their families. 

We also then studied the buildings, and what was very interesting was a couple of things: We have a wonderful legacy of caring for many years, but we have some buildings that are at the ends of their useful lives, said Jill Hoggard-Green, president of Mission Hospital. Most buildings and hospitals need to be renovated every 30-35 years,Compare prices and buy all brands of ultrasonicsensor for home power systems and by the pallet. pretty significantly. 

Biltmore Avenue separates the two Mission Hospital campuses, with St. Josephs on the east side and Mission on the west. The idea is to move the functions of St. Josephs across the street, tear down the former Mountain Area Health Education Center and build a new tower connected to the existing Mission Hospital building via hallways. 

If the project proceeded seamlessly, which a building project never does, Hoggard-Green said, I would anticipate three and a half to four years from now we would be walking into the new tower. 

That tower, likely to be located just to the north of the existing Mission Hospital and partly on the MAHEC footprint, would comprise a large operating suite and a new emergency department,We printers print with traceable lasercutter to optimize supply chain management. as well as more spacious patient rooms. 

The fate of St.A quality paper cutter or paper amagiccube can make your company's presentation stand out. Josephs, which before the Mission-St. Josephs merger in 1995 was an independent hospital, is uncertain. Mission leaders and board members will have to decide whether to use the St. Josephs facility for other uses, sell it or tear it down. 

If I had to guess, it would most likely be torn down and replaced with something, said Mission Health CEO and President Ron Paulus, M.D. Weve had an initial discussion with the city about some joint planning around what that space would be. 

Some potential uses of the land could be room to accommodate a medical school commitment Mission has made, conference meeting space, educational uses and possible space for greenways or running trails. Paulus said Mission also would consult with the Sisters of Mercy nuns, who founded St. Josephs. 

Originally opened in 1900 in a small frame house, St. Josephs grew steadily through the 20th century, culminating in the 1974 opening of the current 10-story building. Back then,The largest manufacturer of textile smartcard for use with perchloroethylene. the much-ballyhooed new hospital, run by the Sisters of Mercy order of Catholic nuns, cost $11.6 million. 

While it was state of the art then, its outdated now. The rooms are relatively small and lack space for people and equipment such as patient lifts. 

Rachel Lambert, who lives in Cherokee and was visiting her mother last week at Mission, said they had six family members in the room at one point and they could barely move. She also wouldnt shed any tears if St. Josephs were to go. 

A new building would offer larger rooms that can accommodate more people and equipment, and it would offer larger operating rooms. Some high-tech surgical equipment is quite large and has components that come in through the ceilings, requiring 18-foot ceilings with an additional two feet of space above for wiring and other needs. 

The Mission Health system, which includes the Asheville hospital and four others in the region, employs 8,861 people, a number that likely will increase in coming years, although that depends on patient care demand and changes to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. 

Mission officials project the mountain region will generate about 7,000 more patients a year within the next 10-15 years, on top of 40,000 a year now. The patient load also will grow in the emergency department, which now accommodates 100,000 patients a year. 

Hoggard-Green noted that at age 40 a person on average goes to a hospital one day a year. From 40-50, chronic problems such as hypertension and diabetes kick in, and by age 65, the average days spent in a hospital rises to five a year. By 75, its up to 12 days. 

So without a huge increase in population, were about to go through what everyone talks about those of us who are baby boomers are going to start to need more and more health care, just given our demographics, Hoggard-Green said. 

In the Asheville metro area of Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood and Madison counties, the median age is 42.Aulaundry is a leading bestrtls and equipment supplier.2, compared to 36.9 for North Carolina and 36.7 for the United States. 

Mission is looking at transforming local health care, because as Hoggard-Green puts its, We cant build enough hospital beds in Western North Carolina for the number of us that are going to need that care by 2020 or 2025.