New UNM Regional Hospital Asset to Area

Health care options have caught up with a decade of growth in Rio Rancho and the West Side. The newest player is the UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center about to open in Rio Rancho’s City Center.

The 72-bed, $143 million hospital will expand services for residents of Sandoval and Bernalillo counties. It also will give the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center a new acute care teaching hospital in which to train more doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. Many on the medical staff are UNM School of Medicine faculty, and the 200,000-square-foot hospital is adjacent to the UNM West campus, where nursing will become one of that school’s signature programs.

The new medical center joins Presbyterian Healthcare Services Rust Medical Center on Unser Boulevard near Albuquerque’s northern edge, and the Lovelace West Side Hospital at McMahon and Golf Course Road. The Rust center opened last October as a 68-bed private room hospital and added another 24 beds this week.

The public is invited to attend the UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center’s grand opening from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, at 3001 Broadmoor NE.

The teaching hospital is an important new community asset, and the expanded nursing program will help address the critical need for more health care professionals and provide job opportunities for the metro area and the entire state.

Congratulations, and welcome UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center.