The only clinical service housed at the site is inpatient behavioral psychiatry. Blessing bought the 14th Street buildings, which housed St. Mary Hospital, from Franciscan Health Systems in 1993. We thought technology, managed care and ambulatory service orientation would, in a sense, empty the nation's hospital beds. Less inpatient use meant more outpatient use. The good news is it has happened.
Lengths of stays are down.
The bottom line is we have enjoyed substantial growth to serve patients. Swearingen said studies show it would cost as much to maintain and repair the aging structures at 14th Street as it would to build a new hospital. Every day, more and more of our services are done on an outpatient ambulatory basis. Completion of an addition at 11th Street would really start the planning, Swearingen said. That addition, underway on the west side of the hospital, will house all or a portion of renal, rehabilitation and radiology services and allow Blessing's pharmacy to expand.