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Groundbreaking this month for Willits hospital

WILLITS – The Frank R. Howard Foundation is set to break ground this month on a new hospital in Willits.

The 25-bed facility will be a critical-access hospital within the Adventist Health system and will feature a four-bed intensive care unit, a heli-pad, a diabetes center, an orthopedic program and a staff of 35. Construction is expected to be complete for a 2010 opening, according to Executive Director Jann Lamprich.

“The greater Willits area is the geographic range for our medical services,” Ms. Lamprich said. “In Mendocino County we go halfway down to Ukiah, then over to the coast and all the way up to the city of Leggett to the north. We encompass all of that area, and it’s quite large.”

Ms. Lamprich explained that the new hospital is being constructed because of state seismic regulations, which require updates to hospitals currently not up to code. The existing Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital at 1 Madrone St. in Willits was constructed in 1928 and is also a critical-access designated hospital with 25 beds.

The existing hospital will close when the new facility opens at 1 Marcella Drive across town. It will be operated by Adventist Health.

So far Ms. Lamprich is estimating the project will cost close to $50 million by the time it is completed. To date the foundation has received several sizable chunks of funding – the 33-acre parcel for the new hospital, valued at more than $1 million, was donated by a local family; a community fundraising campaign netted $3 million; Adventist Health has provided $5 million; and Pepsi Co. has donated $4 million to fund the construction. The rest will be borrowed, she said.

All of the construction will be done using green materials and building practices to the extent which is economically feasible, Ms. Lamprich said. “It will be environmentally friendly,” she said. “Green definitely involves more money, but we’re getting everything that we can do within reason. This will be the first green rural hospital in California.”

The design and build team retained by the hospital foundation is Marshall Erdman & Associates out of Madison, Wis., a firm that has previously worked with the Adventist Health system in Loma Linda. All work is being coordinated through lead architect Ed Anderson.

Among other capabilities, the physicians and nurses at the new facility will be able to practice tele-medicine with staff at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento through a recently purchased robot. The hospital will also be designated a teaching hospital, with orthopedic surgery interns rotating through from UC Davis Medical Center.