Ground broken Friday for hospital

Construction work already has begun at the site

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   The ceremonial first shovel of dirt was tossed Friday afternoon on a three-year construction project that will bring major changes to the landscape and personality of Hopewell Valley.
   Construction work already has begun at the site.
   With Hopewell Township Mayor Vanessa Sandom and County Executive Brian Hughes in attendance, among others, Capital Health System (CHS) broke ground for a new hospital on a 165-acre tract, located east of Scotch Road and north of I-95, near Merrill Lynch’s Southfields office park.
   ”It’s clear that this will be a first-class hospital, with a pre-eminent level of care and an excellent group of physicians,” Mayor Sandom said at the groundbreaking.
   To the CHS team, she added: “You have a proven track record of balancing the needs of employees, patients, doctors and the communities in which you operate.”
   ”Years from now, the history of Mercer County will reflect that Capital Health System did not build its Hopewell hospital alone,” said Al Maghazehe, president and CEO of Capital Health. “It was, in fact, the culmination of years of planning and tireless efforts from people both within our organization and throughout the many different partnerships we have made in the community.”
   The new medical center will provide residents from Hopewell Valley and surrounding communities with improved access to quality health care, said CHS spokesman Donald MacNeill.
   Mr. Maghazehe said the new hospital would boost the local economy by creating jobs, both at the hospital and during its construction. There will be about 1,300 employees at the new hospital once it is finished. The hospital is slated to begin accepting patients in 2011.
   ”We’ve taken unprecedented actions to reach out to local businesses — including women and minority-owned businesses — and help them learn about the opportunities available to them on this project,” Mr. Maghazehe said. He said building the hospital would mean about 500 union jobs during the construction phase.
   In a news release from CHS, Mr. MacNeill said the hospital would include CHS’ Regional Cancer Center and Institute for Neurosciences (including the only CyberKnife Center in Central New Jersey), a community perinatal center (including a Level II neonatal intermediate care unit, comprehensive inpatient pediatric unit, and pediatric emergency services), cardiology services, adult emergency services, intensive care as well as other medical and diagnostic services.
   Mr. MacNeill added that CHS’ “clinical strengths are enhanced through the largest medical staff in Mercer County and our membership in the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Network. CHS is a Magnet-recognized health system, and continues to thrive as Mercer County’s only regional trauma center, neonatal intensive care unit, the region’s mobile intensive care unit provider and the county’s psychiatric emergency screening center. Our state-of-the-art technology is headlined by the area’s only CyberKnife(R) Robotic Surgery System and the first da Vinci(R) Surgical System in Mercer County for noninvasive and minimally invasive cancer treatments.”