Summerlin Hospital celebrates 10th anniversary

Summerlin Hospital Medical Center will mark its 10th anniversary with a free community celebration Oct. 21 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Called Birthday Bash, the event will feature food, face-painting, a blood drive, an appearance by Summerlin Sam and a time capsule ceremony. The hospital is located at 657 Town Center Drive.

According to Tom Warden, vice president of community and government relations for The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin, and a member of the board of governors at Summerlin Hospital, the facility opened its doors in October 1997 when the community's population was about 25,000.

At that time, the hospital was a 147-bed community facility offering basic medical and surgical services.

"Since then, Summerlin's population has quadrupled to nearly 100,000 residents, and the hospital has kept pace. It has expanded from a small community hospital to a 281-bed medical center offering a full array of complex services. Like Summerlin, the hospital has its own master plan that mirrors the community's growth."

The hospital now has a thriving maternity program, pediatric intensive care unit and emergency room, a comprehensive cardiac program that includes sophisticated electrophysiology and open-heart surgery services, a weight-loss surgery program, diabetes treatment center for both adults and children, a center that specializes in treating chronic, hard-to-heal wounds and more.

According to Tim Hingtgen, chief executive officer and managing director of Summerlin Hospital, the facility is constantly growing to meet the community's needs and recently broke ground on the largest expansion project in its 10-year history. The expansion includes a larger emergency room, a new six-story, 170-room patient tower, a four-story medical office building and a third parking garage.

Construction of a new patient tower will begin this winter, bringing the total number of patient beds at Summerlin Hospital to 450. The tower also will be designed with additional shell space for future growth.

The expansion project will be completed in phases with the new emergency room and new parking garage scheduled to open next summer. The patient tower will be completed in 2009.

"The hospital has done a phenomenal job of anticipating and meeting the changing needs of Summerlin residents," Warden said. "People who live or move to Summerlin know they have access to very best medical care in the Las Vegas Valley."

Summerlin began to take shape in 1990 and is a 22,500-acre master-planned community located along the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley.

With about 7,500 acres still to develop, including its urban core, Summerlin Centre, Summerlin continues to unfold.

Summerlin is home to more than 100 neighborhood and village parks, more than 150 completed miles of the Summerlin trail system, nine golf courses, a dozen houses of worship, medical facilities, business parks, 22 public and private schools and more than 100 actively selling floor plans.

Homes in the master plan are available in a variety of styles -- from single-family detached homes to townhomes, condominiums and lofts -- priced from the low $200,000s to more than $2 million. For more information, call 888-898-5015 or visit summerlin.com.