ST. GEORGE, Utah — St. George Regional Hospital is making a major investment to keep more surgeries local and bring new medical services to southern Utah. The hospital broke ground Monday on a new three-story, 42,000-square-foot surgical wing that will provide more operating rooms and the latest medical technology.
Currently, many complex procedures like transplants aren't performed at St. George Regional Hospital, forcing patients to travel all the way to the Salt Lake Valley for treatment.
"We don't do any transplants,” said Dr. Edward Prince, the surgical services director. “That's a big program. We have to develop the program, recruit the surgeons and everything, but it starts with the space. So if we can get the space, we can start looking at that."
The hospital's existing surgical services are at capacity, like a "full bowling alley" according to Prince. New surgeons can only be added when existing doctors are on vacation or finishing up with patients.
"All the lanes are full right now," says Prince. "So anything that happens, like new surgeons that come in, they have to fill in after other people are done or take vacation time, things like that. So hopefully we're going to add four more lanes."
The new surgical tower is the largest expansion at the hospital since the construction of a cancer center in 2018.
Jared Francon, the project director for Oakland Construction, is leading this new project and sees it as a valuable investment in the community.
"It means a lot to me and my family," Francon said. "I mean, we participate. We use the services of these facilities... One of the reasons I like healthcare work is we're building something that's going to give back to the community for decades."
The new three-story building will occupy what is now a staff parking lot, providing space for additional operating rooms and state-of-the-art medical equipment. Prince is especially excited about the potential to bring new services to the region.
"With the expansion here, it will allow us to possibly bring in new procedures. One of them we're entertaining is transplants," he says.
The new surgical wing is expected to be completed in about 18 months.
