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Hospital Officials Speak With Future Neighbors

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Sandy Miller, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho,

Dec. 14--TWIN FALLS -- Before St. Luke's Regional Medical Center moves one piece of dirt on a new hospital and medical office complex, it wants to get to know its neighbors.

St. Luke's and the county-owned Magic Valley Regional Medical Center want to team up to create a regional health care network that would also include St. Luke's facilities in Meridian and the Wood River Valley as well as its Mountain States Tumor Institute. Twin Falls County commissioners have signed a letter of their intent to transfer ownership of Magic Valley Regional to St. Luke's and will put the question to voters in May.

But regardless of whether voters approve the idea, St. Luke's still intends to build. So on Tuesday, St. Luke's officials met with people living near the 40-acre site on the corner of Pole Line Road and Grandview Drive. They said they wanted to hear their concerns and about they'd like to see outside their living room windows.

"You're going to live here," said Chuck Pomeroy, chief financial officer for the Boise-based nonprofit hospital. "You're going to see it."

First of all, people wanted to know why hospital officials chose the site instead of just expanding in Magic Valley Regional's current location.

For one thing, they got a better deal on the land, Pomeroy said. And the chosen site provides easier access for people in outlying communities.

"It's a hospital for the entire region," said Jeff Hull, an architect and St. Luke's director of construction.

People wanted to know just what the new complex would look like.

"It's got to look appealing," said neighbor Carl Nevin.

Nevin and his neighbors were reassured there would be landscaping around the entire campus, which would border Pole Line to the north, Cheney Drive West to the south, Grandview Drive to the west and Wendell Street to the east.

Nevin's wife, Cheryl, wanted to know whether the noise from medical helicopters and ambulance sirens would keep them up at night.

Mike McGrane, director of Air St. Luke's, said all helicopters would come in from the north side of the campus over the busy Pole Line Road instead of over residential areas. The helicopter pad would be located in the same "noise zone," as would the hospital's emergency room. Gilbert Schmidt, manager of ambulance services at Magic Valley Regional, pointed out that most ambulance calls occur in the daytime.

Also located in the "noise zone" would be the central plant with its generators and boilers. The quieter areas of the complex would be located in the "quiet zones" near residential areas. Located in the "quiet zone" would be the medical office complex -- a daytime operation -- and possibly the patient towers, complete with their "healing gardens." Right now, there are plans for two three-story patient towers with 160 to 170 private rooms.

Hospital officials plan to take what they heard Tuesday night and consider it as they update their plans, and they will bring those plans back to their neighbors before applying for building permits from the city of Twin Falls in the spring. Since the land is located in the city's area of impact, they will have to apply for annexation into the city before applying for the permits. Public hearings will be held throughout that process. If all goes as planned, they could break ground this summer.

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To see more of The Times-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.magicvalley.com

Copyright (c) 2005, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho,

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Times-News

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