Construction continues on new $70 million State College hospital. Take a look inside
Centre County’s second hospital is planned to open in summer 2024 as construction continues to progress on the $70 million facility and medical office building.
Penn Highlands State College, located at 239 Colonnade Boulevard, State College, will provide medical services including an emergency department and cancer care, as well as outpatient services and a medical office building.
Penn Highlands State College will be the health care system’s ninth hospital but will be the first hospital built from the ground up, Rhonda Halstead, regional market president for the central region at Penn Highlands Healthcare, said during a media tour Wednesday.
“We get to design our culture, the flow of our patients, everything that we’re going to offer to the community is very well thought out,” Halstead said.
The hospital will have an emergency department with 10 private treatment rooms and a surgical department. The second floor will have 18 private rooms with the opportunity for expansion, Halstead said. Medical imaging will provide MRI scans, CTs, ultrasounds, X-rays and more.
The hospital has standardized pre- and post- operating room units where surgical patients will come before and after surgery, Heather Franci, chief nursing officer for Penn Highlands, said. They’ll offer a few different types at Penn Highlands State College.
“We’ll offer orthopedic surgery here, some general surgery, we’ll do invasive bronchoscopy work from the Lung Center. Those patients will receive robotic care. We do have two navigational robotic systems as part of our Lung Center. Those patients will come through this department as well,” Franci said. A range of different general surgeries will be offered there, as well.
The health care system prioritizes patient experience and one way Penn Highlands hopes to improve the patient experience is through double-sided closets in the rooms that also open in the hallway, Dave Trudell, marketing, communications and sales system director, said.
“If a patient … needs linens instead of having our housekeeper go in and maybe interrupt someone who’s sleeping, we’ll be able to put that linen right here, take out trash right here, so we have less of a chance of interrupting the patient during their stay,” Trudell said.
Penn Highlands State College also plans to seek accreditation become a level 4 trauma center, Halstead said. The process takes about two years, and is the same level Mount Nittany Health told the CDT in August that it was pursuing.
“A level 4 truly just stabilizes the patient and gets them to a higher level of care. So for us, that would be DuBois, which is now our trauma 2 unit. So we’re very excited to be part of that and with the trauma program being a level 2, they actually can sponsor us as a level 4,” she said.
Adjacent to the hospital is a 32,000-square foot medical office building. The office building will have family medicine and specialty care physicians and providers, a cancer center, OB/GYN, women’s medical imaging, heart center, lung center and a retail pharmacy with a drive-thru, according to a press release from the health care system. A walk-in clinic will be open to everyone.
Penn Highlands State College will employ about 180 people in the hospital and medical building, not including physicians. Halstead said she expects most of the hires to come from State College and the surrounding area. About 30-40 providers and physicians are expected initially, she said.
