Madison Hospital construction ‘on target’

Everything is on track with the under construction Madison Hospital, according to Hospital President Mary Lynne Wright.

Wright

Wright gave an informal update on the hospital’s progress to residents at the Madison Wellness Center Monday, July 25.

Located in Madison Medical Park the $71 million, 230,000-square-foot hospital will be five stories and include 60 beds, which will eventually expand to 200.

When it opens in late February 2012, the hospital will include17 medicine beds, 20 surgical beds, 19 mother/baby beds, four beds in the Intensive Care Unit, five operating rooms and 12 exam rooms.

A large portion of the rooms will be for labor and delivery patients.

Wright said this because of the ever-increasing Madison population.

“If you look at the age of the community, it’s a fairly young population, and we knew women would want to have their baby at a hospital close to where they live,” Wright said.

That decision was made in the beginning stages of the hospital planning process.

“We tried to do things strategically so we could build for the future,” she said. “One of the things that keeps me up at night is how fast we’ll grow, and I personally think we’ll grow very rapidly.”

She said the hospital will eventually employ 500 people and with its five-year economic plan, will bring the city an estimated $500 million.

“We’re not going to be on the same emergency level as Huntsville Hospital,” she said. “If you are involved in a car wreck or critical, you do not need to come to Madison Hospital, you need to go to Huntsville.”

This is in part because the facility will not house a trauma unit and Wright said she does not see one in the near future, but told a concerned citizen to “never say never.”

Wright also discussed the hospital’s vision, which first and foremost is quality.

“We want to be known as the best quality-run hospital in the state,” she said.  “I truly believe the demand for our patients is to provide a level of  service that can’t be found anywhere else in this community. We will build on customer service.”

Unlike Huntsville Hospital, Wright said the Madison campus will have a different culture in that it will be smaller. One advantage she listed to being a smaller facility is that the building and campus will be smoke-free facilities and employees will have color-coded uniforms. That way, patients will be able to easily recognize doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc.

“You come to hospitals because you have to, not because you want to,” she stated. “We owe a duty to our citizens that you know who’s going to take care of you.”

Wright plans to ensure “the best of the best” will be working with the hospital’s patients. She plans to interview every person who comes to work at the hospital.

Job listings will go on the hospital’s website madisonALhospital.org in late August.

“I’m very excited,” Wright said. “This is an opportunity you don’t get very often. I think the last hospital built in Alabama was in the 70s, so to get to be on the ground floor to open a new facility is pretty overwhelming and it’s something I don’t take lightly.”