Lakeland Health Plans $160 Million Expansion

ST. JOSEPH, Mich—During the first week of August, Lakeland Health’s board of directors approved funding for Lakeland Medical Center’s $160 million expansion in St. Joseph. The project is expected to be complete by 2020, with a groundbreaking-ceremony taking place in October 2017.

The renovation will add a new five-floor, 260,00-square-foot medical pavilion that will be updated with the latest hospital technology. The renovation will also add an additional 80,000 square feet to the existing hospital.

“Top-tier health care organizations need to continually invest and innovate in order to stay top-tier,” said Daniel Hopp, Lakeland Health board of directors chairman, in a statement. “Through our long-range capital facility plan, we have carefully evaluated, planned and executed to ensure that we remain a health system equipped to serve the next generation of our friends and neighbors.”

The pavilion will consist of new medical and surgical suites, a short-stay unit, imaging centers, an intensive care unit and education and community rooms. The main entrance of the pavilion will provide visitors with comfortable seating areas, flat screen TVs as well as areas designed to educate visitors on healthy living.

It will also include an endoscopy unit, an intensive care unit, a nuclear medicine unit, a pulmonology unit, a post-surgical unit, a critical care unit and a new wound center.

“We’re creating a new observation unit adjacent to the emergency department to care for those folks that aren’t sick enough to be in-patients but are a little too sick to send home,” said Dr. Loren B. Hamel, president and CEO of Lakeland Health, in a statement.

Additional updates to the facility will include private corridors to transport patients inside and outside of the hospital. A new main entrance will also be built which allows for easier vehicle transport of patients as well an updated look for visitors.

“Every decision made in regards to this project has been with our patients, team members and community in mind and how we can provide them with the best overall experience possible,” said Hamel in a statement. “Our hope is that through modernizations and the latest technology we will be able to save more lives, restore health to more patients, and provide the quality health care our community needs while remaining close to home.”

SmithGroup, a construction company based in Chicago will lead hospital design.

In the past five years, Lakeland Health has received a number of updates and renovations including an addition of a $7.3 million, 42,000-square-foot Lakeland Medical Suite in Niles, Mich., which houses several specialty practices and visiting specialists.

The hospital has also received a new emergency department at Lakeland Community Hospital in Niles. The project included a $7.4 million, 16,000-square-foot unit that replaced the existing emergency department.

A 57,000-square-foot Lakeland Continuing Care Center in St. Joseph was also added to replace the 40-year-old existing facility at an estimated cost of $10.5 million.