RAPID CITY, S.D. – Monument Health announced plans for the next phase of the multi-year Rapid City Hospital expansion project today. This phase will expand its services for mothers, babies and children at Monument Health Rapid City Hospital.
“This expansion is really one of Monument Health’s greatest needs,” said Paulette Davidson, President and CEO of Monument Health. “We’re excited to bring this project to life and create an environment that will serve our communities for the future.” With advances in neonatal and pediatric medicine, Monument Health will offer more critical services for our youngest patients in Rapid City, allowing families to receive care close to home. The women’s and children’s service areas of Rapid City Hospital have significantly outgrown the available space, she said.
Although the project is in the early design stages, plans call for a three-story building to be constructed at the northwest corner of Rapid City Hospital (across the campus from the new Cancer Care Institute expansion). It will include a completely new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), offering more space and privacy for families. NICU babies will be separated by walls rather than curtains. The new postpartum care area will offer more room and privacy as well.
When the expansion phase of the project is complete, crews will remodel the existing Children’s area of the hospital to upgrade the Pediatrics and Labor-and-Delivery areas. The expansion will also include a multipurpose educational center with convenient ground-level access for those attending classes, workshops and other events.
Throughout the Children’s expansion, room sizes, privacy and comfort will be upgraded to meet modern health care standards. The cost of the project is estimated to be $40 million.
In addition, the Monument Health Foundation unveiled a fundraising campaign to help finance construction and equipment for the Children’s Expansion. The Foundation has committed to contributing $7.1 million in all. About $3.1 million has already been raised, and the Foundation hopes to raise the remaining $4 million over the next year.
In a separate announcement in Spearfish, Monument Health unveiled plans to expand the main campus of the Spearfish Hospital and construct a new multispecialty clinic off of Interstate 90 Exit 17 near the Elkhorn Ridge neighborhood at the eastern edge of Spearfish.
