March groundbreaking for new ‘micro’ hospital here
Facility on araby road will have 9 inpatient, 8 er beds
A Texas-based hospital group building a community hospital in Yuma has announced a March groundbreaking for the new facility. The $18 million facility is expected to employ between 60 to 100 employees.
Exceptional Healthcare Community Hospital, scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2022, will have eight beds in the emergency room and nine beds on the hospital side for acute admissions and overnight observation of patients.
The 20,000-square-foot Phase 1 of the facility will be located on 2½ acres at 2632 S. Araby Road, close to Interstate 8, heading toward 24th Street.
About 1,000 square feet of the single-story building to be shelled for future hospital usages. Original plans for 10 inpatient beds and 10 ER beds were “stepped down” to leave room for future expansion of the hospital and possibly an outpatient clinic.
“We always start small and then we expand our footprint. So don’t be surprised if we come back in a year or two,” Saeed Mahboubi, the group’s chief financial officer based in Dallas, Texas, told the
Yuma Design and Historic Review Commission, which reviewed the project’s aesthetic plans on Dec. 9.
According to Exceptional Healthcare, these types of small-scale facilities, known as micro-hospitals, are popping up across the country to offer medical care in underserved communities and provide a local alternative to the potentially long waits for emergency and acute care at major hospitals.
The state-of-the-art facility will include a specialty internal medicine hospital, a 24-hour emergency department, a digital imaging suite including CT scan, X-ray, mobile MRI and ultrasound and an in-house laboratory.
Additionally, in partnership with higher-level hospitals in the region, Exceptional Healthcare will feature a landing area for air ambulances to ensure the fastest transfer of patients needing a higher level of care.
“We are very excited to be entering the Yuma marketplace with the newest Exceptional Healthcare hospital in the state,” Mahboubi said. “Arizona is facing a shortage of healthcare facilities and professionals, particularly in rural areas and smaller communities in the state. These new hospitals will fill a critical need and help strengthen the state’s overall healthcare infrastructure.”
In a press release issued Wednesday, Exceptional Healthcare noted that neighborhood community hospitals are important because they offer residents of communities without large healthcare resources an alternative to driving long distances, often in a medical emergency when seconds count.
The micro-hospitals also provide patients with the ability to stay closer to home for less significant internal medicine-related admissions, allowing patients to be closer to their families and loved ones, the group stated.
Each inpatient room will have accommodations for a family member to stay the night, as well as high-level concierge-style service. Plans include chef-prepared individualized meal service as well as complimentary toiletries, bathrobe and slippers for patients to increase their level of comfort.
“We’re very excited about bringing some of our services – we’re known for red carpet healthcare – to people of Yuma,” Mahboubi told the Yuma commission.
A socially distanced, outdoor groundbreaking event will take place on Friday, March 12, at the Yuma site.
The Yuma facility will be patterned after the facility in Livingston, Texas. The exterior design will feature a red, white and blue color scheme.
It will be the group’s second facility in Arizona. The group broke ground on a Maricopa facility on Nov. 13 with the goal of opening in the fall of 2021.
Exceptional Healthcare operates more than 15 clinics and emergency medical centers throughout the state of Texas. The group has plans for additional facilities in Arizona, with facilities in Flagstaff and Kingman, and as many as six throughout the state.