Penn Highlands is about to open its $90M State College hospital. Take a look around

After two years of construction, Penn Highlands is preparing to open its new, $90 million State College location that will be Centre County’s second hospital.

With the official opening planned for June 17, members of the media were invited Thursday to tour the new 112,000 square-foot building at 239 Colonnade Boulevard.

Marketing System Director Dave Trudell, Regional Marketing Manager Rhonda Halstead and Chief Medical Officer Trina Abla pointed out several things that are unique about the hospital and medical office facility.

“While there are other hospitals in the region, this is a new, patient-centric hospital that addresses the changing systems of health care and will improve access to the community,” Abla said. “Historically, hospitals had multiple floors with units dedicated to medical, surgical, oncological and intensive care services. With the evolution of medicine and emphasis on preventative medicine, this has changed how we deliver patient care today.”

Decades ago, an emergency visit could mean a dayslong stay in the hospital for a patient, Abla said. Today, she said, many conditions can now be “prevented, diagnosed and managed as an outpatient, without the need for hospitalization.”

A look around the hospital

The outpatient section of the hospital is located on the second floor and has 15 beds for patients.

Even with the focus on outpatient-based services, there’s still an inpatient section of the hospital. It’s located on the opposite wing of the second floor, with 18 private inpatient rooms, nine of them doubling over for orthopedic care rooms.

All of the rooms have a pass-through door that allows the hospital’s employees to deliver food, fresh linens and other items to the patient’s room without disturbing them if they’re sleeping or under a no/low-contact protocol.

The ER, located on the first floor, has 10 private rooms and one private trauma room, as well as a decontamination room. Two of the rooms in the ER double as behavioral health rooms for patients in need of that type of care.

The ER services will be open 24/7. The walk-in clinic will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day of the week to start. As time passes, the clinic will shift its hours to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Two of the key features to the hospital are the medical imaging and cancer treatment sections.

The medical imaging center is located on the first floor of the hospital and offers CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, X-rays, 3D mammograms, nuclear medicine, mobile PET and CT scans and DEXA scans.

The Hahne Cancer Center, also located on the first floor, is home to one of the state’s most up-to-date pieces of technology — a $4.5 million linear accelerator.

The accelerator is a new way to combat cancerous tumors that uses a precise, refined beam to target the exact spot that needs treatment while avoiding the sensitive tissue around the tumor.

“This unit delivers precisely-targeted radiation within doses that are 40 to 140% higher than previous technology, making sessions shorter,” Abla said. “The ability to deliver that beam focally spares other normal tissue around (the tumor), providing less side effects and long-term issues for those patients.”

More investments in Centre County health care

Penn Highlands State College also includes a retail pharmacy and a cafe dining area located at its main entrance.

Another new feature of the facility is a safe haven drop-off area for babies.

This feature allows new mothers who have deemed themselves not fit to raise an infant or who are unable to care for them to anonymously drop their child off in the box. Once the child is in the box and the door is shut, the employees on the other side of the box will silently be notified.

“Currently, we are only the second hospital in the state that offers a service like this,” Halstead said. “It’s an important service and while we hope that we won’t have to use it a lot, I’m glad that we can offer such a service to the public.”

The drop-off box is located in the ambulance bay of the hospital outside of the emergency room.

Overall, the hospital cost about $90 million to complete, $20 million more than initially estimated due to “unexpected additional expenses,” Trudell said.

Penn Highlands State College currently employs 113 staff members, but after its official opening, that number is expected to rise to about 240 staff members. There is also room to expand at the hospital, with the inpatient clinic and operating room service areas being designated for expansion if needed.

Before the planned June 17 opening, Penn Highlands will host a community open house from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. June 15.

The new facility isn’t the only expansion happening in Centre County health care. Construction is underway at Mount Nittany Medical Center for a 10-story, $350 million patient tower that’s expected to be complete by summer 2026. Geisinger is working on a $12 million expansion of its clinic at Gray’s Woods in Patton Township and also plans a new $15.5 million health care facility that will offer primary and urgent care in Spring Township.

This story was originally published June 6, 2024 at 2:13 PM.