Mountainview Hospital hopes to wrap up new ER construction in 2013

After more than 15 years in northwest Las Vegas, MountainView Hospital is still growing.

The hospital at 3100 N. Tenaya Way has begun a $34 million project to expand its emergency room, add a 12-bed intensive care unit on the first floor, renovate all 72 medical surgical beds on the fourth floor and redesign its outpatient registration and pre-op testing and admitting areas. This is in addition to the construction of an 18-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit, a Walgreens on the first floor of the medical office building and a new gift shop in the front lobby.

"Our goal is to have the least impact as possible," said Charlie Goggin, project superintendent.

The first thing residents will notice is the construction of a dedicated exterior emergency room entrance and the slight movement of the ambulance bay. The new construction will be one story, but it is being reinforced with an eye to support more floors in the future. Other obvious changes will be a new helicopter landing port ---- a first for the hospital ---- and covered employee parking on the south side.

Another noticeable clue that things are changing: The exterior wall facing U.S. Highway 95 will get a giant digital sign for educational announcements and information about the hospital.

The current ER covers 10,000 square feet and has 22 beds. The new one will have 42 beds, including some just for pediatric and trauma patients. The project will add approximately 42,000 square feet to the first floor. Once the new ER is operational, the current one will undergo renovations, and then the wall between the two will be removed. The hospital maintained that emergency services would be offered at all times and as seamlessly as possible.

Some of the interior construction is already under way. The fourth floor, affectionately referred to as the "war zone," is seeing major changes as its six wings are being done pod by pod in eight-week phases. A pod contains a dozen beds. Though construction has begun and zippered plastic walls isolate the construction areas, the hospital is still able to care for the same number of patients.

"We are very fortunate the community continues to choose MountainView for its medical care, and we remain busy," said Amanda Powell, vice president of communications. "We have strategies in place to utilize other areas of the hospital, including our pediatric unit, during renovations to the fourth floor."

One pod has been completed, and all are on track to be done by the end of the year.

Just inside the main entrance, the old gift shop was gutted and an office eliminated to give it a 1,000-square-foot footprint. Besides the face-lift, the gift shop will carry more boutique items and logo clothing such as infant onesies that say "Mommy had me at MountainView."

Hospitals have strict building codes such as for fire issues and access, all something Layton Construction deals with in its projects around the nation. Michael Allen is the director of plant operations for MountainView. He said his main job is to "keep all the life safety equipment operational at all times."

The medical building just north of the hospital is also part of the overhaul. The passageway connecting the two buildings must be revamped with an upgraded sprinkler system and the wall pushed out for a wider hallway. The sixth floor, formerly medical offices, will house MountainView's new inpatient rehabilitation unit. Work to build out the interior and bring it up to hospital code is being done at night so as not to disturb the offices one floor below. The rehabilitation center is expected to open in December.

The construction comes on the heels of adding a neurosurgery operating suite, used to perform complex neurological cases such as craniotomies, and launching a robotic surgery program with the purchase of a da Vinci Surgical System. Robotically assisted surgery is a minimally invasive approach used to treat a number of medical conditions such as prostate, colon, throat and gynecologic cancer.

MountainView Hospital also is a bariatric surgery center of excellence, and Dr. Francis Teng will lead the surgical weight-loss unit.

Construction of the new ER is expected to wrap up in mid-2013.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.