Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull and his family have received medical care from Presbyterian hospitals for years. His kids, he said, don’t know medical care outside of Presbyterian.
When construction for Presbyterian Rust Medical Center’s second tower began last year, he said he had to spread the news.
“I remember when the tower crane first went up, I started taking pictures and sending it off to other mayors around the state, saying ‘Look what we have,’” he said.
Hull was one of six speakers at Presbyterian Rust’s early celebration Tuesday marking the near completion of the complex’s second tower. About 200 people attended the event in a tent outside the new tower, where attendees received a meal and a gift bag with an exercise band and a pedometer.
Tours of the new tower were originally planned but were postponed to allow construction work to continue.
The tower’s first three floors will open to the public on Dec. 2. The new building will house the Ted and Margaret Jorgensen Cancer Center and provide medical, radiology, oncology and infusion services. The cancer center’s infusion services will be available Dec. 15.
The first three floors will house 48 beds, with the entire tower expected to hold 120 beds. The fourth floor is expected to open by the end of March.
Hull said Presbyterian Rust has helped attract businesses and development.
“Rust really jump-started the commercial real estate in this area; we’re starting to see more and more activity,” he said. “Obviously, as mayor of the city, we want to see growth, we want to see development, we want to see jobs added and seeing something like this added to the city, it’s exciting for everybody.”
Marissa Nordstrom, manager of community outreach and special initiatives for Presbyterian, spoke after the main event about the new cancer center, saying the center was built with the future patients in mind.
The cancer center will include a boutique that’s unique from any other Presbyterian location, where patients are offered free wigs, bras and prosthetics. The center’s infusion room will include a view of the ground’s garden and will have small walls to provide space between each patient.
“Especially with cancer, it’s an interesting balance of privacy and community,” Nordstrom said. “People want to support each other and want people supporting them, but then there can also be a need for privacy and quiet, so that was a particular challenge for us. But I think we did a good job in addressing it.”
A family respite room will be next to the infusion room, allowing family members and visitors to take a moment away from the medical environment.
“We really designed a lot of the rooms for all of our supportive-care people, like social workers and psychologists, and for people to have conversations with the patients because a huge part of the care is the psycho-social component, so we designed the facility to have a lot of rooms for conversations with patients and families,” she said.
By: Antonio Sanchez (Rio Rancho Observer)
Click here to view source article.
By: Antonio Sanchez (Rio Rancho Observer)
Click here to view source article.
