A 156-bed full-service hospital, St. Francis Medical Center, is scheduled to open at the intersection of Woodmen Road and Powers Boulevard in early August.The $207 million center is part of the Penrose-St. Francis Health Services system.Johnny Rea, public relations representative, described the center as the only full-service hospital in northeastern Colorado Springs.The center’s surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic services will be within seven miles of Falcon.The 450,000-square-foot facility will open with a staff of about 700.The majority of the staff will transfer from Penrose Community Hospital on North Academy. Penrose Community, an 88-bed hospital, will close its doors when the new center opens, Rea said. The new medical center plans to hire 73 additional staff members.”We’re going to have a critical care unit, a cardiac catheterization lab, sleep lab diagnostic services and a full-service, trauma-ready emergency department, which we currently don’t have at Penrose Community,” Rea said.”We’ll have the largest and most technologically advanced birth center in the region, a pediatric department and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit on par with the NICU at Memorial Hospital.” The center will offer a women’s care unit for postpartum, antepartum and perinatal services as well.Surgical services will include an endoscopy suite, a vascular lab and full-service respiratory care. The medical center will provide medical imaging, including CT scans, nuclear medicine, fluoroscopy, flat film radiology, ultrasound, stereotactic imaging, digital mammography and magnetic resonance imaging.The weeklong grand opening celebration culminates with a community-wide open house Saturday, Aug. 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Everyone is invited to tour the facility.”We’ll have several interactive health and wellness activities for the community to experience firsthand,” Rea said.A Flight for Life helicopter will be on display.”Some of the local fire and police departments will bring their vehicles out for people to see,” Rea said. “Working dogs from Peterson Air Force Base will give demonstrations, so it will be a true family experience.”In addition to the new center and Penrose Community, the Penrose-St. Francis Health Services system also includes Penrose Hospital on Nevada Avenue and St. Francis Health Center on Pikes Peak Avenue.According to the Web site, www.penrosestfrancis.org, St. Francis Health Center, established in 1887, was the first hospital in Colorado Springs.Penrose-St. Francis Health Services is part of Centura Health.
