Just southeast of the Hanford Mall, the city's newest hospital continues to take shape approximately halfway through its construction. Construction workers are busy putting steel frames together on a 31-acre site that will house a $112 million building, complete with red tile roofs and creamy stucco, that will be the home of Hanford's newest hospital when it is scheduled to open in the summer of 2010.

Groundbreaking took place in September 2007. Already, the main steel frames have been erected and are being coated to make them fireproof. Construction will kick up a notch this summer and fall, when the rest of the interior and exterior will be laid out. Up to 300 construction workers will be working on the site.

Many high-flight medical jobs have been brought to the area, such as cancer and surgical specialists, thanks to the new hospital. Already, 35 to 40 new physicians, who are now working in affiliation with Adventist Health, which will operate the new hospital, have been recruited in the past five years. Some of that growth can be attributed to the attraction of the new facility, according to Douglas Lafferty, vice president of facilities development and construction for Adventist Health.

The hospital expects to employ 500 people once everything is up and running; 65 percent of those will be clinical and as a result much higher paying than Kings County's average wage, Lafferty said.

The hospital promises to be state of the art, with wireless Internet access, 32-inch flat-screen TVs for each of the 144 private beds and even personal computers for each of the rooms for electronic medical data access.

"Vital signs that will be inputted into the computer will go right into the patient's medical records without additional typing," Lafferty said.

The hospital will also be much brighter than the current facilities. Each of the three floors will have atrium glass, allowing the sunshine to bathe the inside with light. The result will be a healing effect that not only complements the warm, beige interior but also soothes the patients, Lafferty said.

"We wanted warm colors that match the culture of California," Lafferty said.

Patients also can expect a Mediterranean experience. They will drive up to the facility through a row of palm trees. Then they will enter through an entrance with a Spanish-style fountain, stepping onto a floor with brown, rust-colored quarry tile. A muted green carpet will complement the lobby with walls of medium tan.

"The colors are light and airy," Lafferty said.

The facility, which will consolidate services provided by two Hanford hospitals -- Hanford Community Medical Center and Central Valley General Hospital -- brings a significant size expansion. There are 113 beds between the two hospitals, but the new facility will have 144 beds, with a future capacity for 60 more in another wing.

Private-practice physicians who conduct outpatient services will have their offices along Mall Drive and Seventh Street, Lafferty said.

"It will be a medical mall," he said. "There will be a synergetic effect from the new hospital. It will be the engine that drives the community."

The new hospital will be an inpatient facility, making for a more efficient process to get blood tests, X-rays and other procedures, Lafferty said.

Most hospitals, he said, mix both inpatient and outpatient services, and doctors and equipment have to be shared.

"It becomes a juggling act," he said.

But in the new hospital, the facilities and staff will be exclusive to the inpatients.

"There will be no conflict," Lafferty said. "It will save time and make life easier for both patients and staff. The environment will be quieter."

The hospital's economic force in Kings County can't be underestimated, experts say.

"As we are out looking for industry to locate or expand in Kings County, one of the things people look at is public infrastructure like schools, transportation and hospitals," said John Lehn, president of Kings County Economic Development Corp. "When people look at a new community to live in they look at infrastructure -- whether they are retirees or young families. Health care is high on the list."

A host of new physician specialists including those in surgery and oncology have been recruited to the area, he added, due in part to the attractiveness of working in a cutting-edge facility.

"Now we don't have to drive very far to see some of the medical specialists," he said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2423.

(Feb. 18, 2009)