It's personal - Community Memorial Health System

projects updatGROUNDBREAKINGThe New Community Memorial HospitalCommunity members,CMHS medical staff andemployees, as well as cityand county dignitariescelebrated the groundbreakingceremony for thenew Community MemorialHospital.TThe groundbreaking ceremony for thenew Community Memorial Hospital was heldSeptember 14, 2011. The celebration drew about500 community members, including CMHSmedical staff and employees as well as city andcounty dignitaries.“This is the single most important thingto happen in my two years as mayor,” VenturaMayor Bill Fulton told the crowd, adding thenew hospital also will boost the city’s economyand turn midtown into a “second downtown.”“Your children and grandchildren will lookon this day as the greatest day in the history ofVentura,” Fulton said.24 CARING | COMMUNITY MEMORIAL HEALTH SYSTEMThe six-story, 325,000-square-foot hospitalwill be built next to the current hospital on BrentStreet, and is scheduled to open in 2015. It willhave 250 private rooms, comfortable space forfamilies and a healing garden on the grounds.The new CMH, which meets seismic demands,also will have a larger Emergency Roomand greater imaging capability than the presenthospital. It also will have additional Heart Catheterizationlabs, expanded Intensive Care andCardiac Care Recovery Units, and a larger LevelIII Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The hospital’s10 surgical theaters will have leading-edge medicaltechnology.“We will provide state-of-the-art care in afacility that is truly state-of-the-art,” said GaryWilde, President & CEO of CMHS.The new hospital will meet the needs of thecommunity for the next 50 years, Wilde said,and will feature environmentally friendly “green”components such as triple-paneled glass windowsthat will reduce heating and air-conditioningcosts.The current 242-bed hospital was built in1962. Previous hospitals in the 110-year historyof Community Memorial Health System were theElizabeth Bard Memorial Hospital, built in 1901,and Foster Memorial Hospital, built in 1930.