OhioHealth officials celebrated the completion of the steel frame for a 220,000 square foot expansion of their Pickerington campus during a May 2 ceremony in which they also revealed a new name for the facility – OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital – and provided details of additional services. be available there.

Officials said the more than $140 million project will bring several new medical services to 1010 Refugee Road, including cancer treatment and women’s health.

“We are on schedule and we are looking at a late fall (2023) opening,” said Dr. Kevin Lutz, president of OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital.

OhioHealth opened its 150,000 square foot medical campus in Pickerington in January 2015. It offers 24/7 emergency care, as well as primary care, imaging, physical therapy and outpatient surgeries.

Last February, OhioHealth officials announced plans to expand 30 undeveloped acres on campus, but details weren’t released until May 2.

In the six-story expansion, Lutz said 205,000 square feet will be a new hospital and 15,000 square feet will be dedicated to cancer/infusion spaces.

“The hospital will have a total of 60 beds, including a dedicated ICU (intensive care unit), medical surgery beds and postpartum beds,” Lutz said.

Lutz said the expansion will bring six operating rooms to the hospital, in addition to two C-section operating rooms.

The new services will also include a level three trauma unit and a cardiac and vascular unit which will include diagnostic and interventional catheter labs.

The project will add an acute stroke program to campus services, as well as general medicine, general surgery and ancillary expansion of imaging, laboratory and pharmacy services.

The facility, renowned for the expanded services, will employ more than 500 people, Lutz said.

“OhioHealth is committed to expanding our already strong services in the Pickerington community with the construction of the OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital,” he said.

“Since we opened the OhioHealth Pickerington Medical Campus in 2015, we have continued to learn more about the healthcare needs of those who live and work in and around Pickerington. We are excited to add more capabilities vital to our campus to continue to serve the community.”

Lutz said the project will include shell space for future growth “based on community needs.”

“We don’t know what that need is yet,” he said. “As the community grows, we want to be ready to be there for what is needed.”

In celebrating the growth of the local OhioHealth campus, Pickerington Mayor Lee Gray thanked the Pickerington School Board for approving a 30-year funding agreement with tax increases that, among other things, helped OhioHealth to fund the four or five lane widening of Refugee Road from State Route 256 to the main entrance of OhioHealth Refugee Road instead of paying taxes on that land.

TIF also provided funding to OhioHealth for the construction of three new lanes on Refugee to the City Corporation Limits that adjoin the City of Columbus.

“We’re not here if we don’t get to phase one,” Gray said.

He said OhioHealth has brought needed medical services to the community and has been a strong partner with the city, Pickerington Schools and Violet Township.

“OhioHealth has been an outstanding partner to our community,” Gray said. “They give back regularly and their employees contribute and participate in local events.

“Having a hospital so close adds immense value to all the people who live here.”

Lutz said OhioHealth likely would have started the expansion sooner had it not been for the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

He also said that the hospital is designed to serve people from the surrounding communities.

“It was an opportunity for us to move from a medical campus to a hospital,” he said. “It will be more than just a community hospital.

“It will serve a region because we will have a trauma program as well as a cardiac and vascular intervention and stroke program and full labor and delivery.”

[email protected]

@ThisWeekNate