Construction Begins on University of Tennessee Heart Hospital
By Josh Flory, The Knoxville News Sentinel, Tenn.
Jul. 25–Officials at the University of Tennessee Medical Center broke ground Thursday on a new heart hospital that is slated to open in 2010.
The four-story, $26 million facility will be at the medical center’s campus near Alcoa Highway and will provide inpatient services for the Heart Lung Vascular Institute.
At the ground-breaking ceremony, UT Medical Center cardiothoracic surgeon John Mack cited Tennessee’s high rates of smoking, obesity and high blood pressure, which he said are contributors to heart and lung illnesses.
Mack said the centerpiece of the new hospital will be a 24-bed cardiovascular intensive care unit, which will have rooms large enough to accommodate a lounge and a bathroom, so family members can stay with patients at the facility.
UT Medical Center President and CEO Joe Landsman said the ground-breaking represented an important day for the center and the community. “The real reason behind this is focused on patient care,” he said.
University Health System’s project, which received state approval in April, comes as Mercy Health Partners has stopped admitting nonemergency patients, including nonemergency cardiac cases, at nearby Baptist Hospital of East Tennessee on Blount Avenue at Chapman Highway.
Mercy received state approval Wednesday to move its open-heart services from the Blount Avenue hospital’s Heart Institute to Baptist Hospital West. Mercy’s request was opposed by UT Medical Center and Covenant Health, among others.
The new UT tower at 1924 Alcoa Highway, which will attach to the existing medical center, will be built where the main circular entrance is located on the west side of the hospital. Part of the road leading to that section of the hospital also will be rerouted behind an existing parking lot, which is expected to create additional parking.
The front of the new building will serve as a new entrance to the hospital and will include a lobby, information desk and patient conference center, as well as an enlarged Preston Medical Library, which is part of the UT graduate school of medicine.
The tower, which is the first to be built since 1984, will increase endoscopy labs to eight from five, while beds in the cardiovascular care unit will increase to 24 from 18. The third and fourth floors will be shelled-in with space capable of housing 32 beds. The tower is being built to accommodate another four floors as the need arises.
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