Sioux Falls Business Journal

A $3 million project is planned to improve the surgical-services area at Sanford Regional Hospital Worthington.

Design work is scheduled to begin this fall, and construction on the Minnesota facility will start in 2009, according to Sanford Health.

“Patients and families have told us what we need to do to make our surgical services more user friendly,” said SRHW chief executive officer Lynn W. Olson. “This includes improving privacy and having sufficient space to handle patients both before and after surgery.  The surgery center improvement project will create a better patient and family surgical experience.”

Nearly 2,000 surgeries a year are performed at the Worthington hospital, which Sanford recently acquired. The majority of the surgeries are outpatient procedures.

“Sanford Health is pleased to support our hospital in Worthington in its effort to improve care for its surgical patients,” said Ed Weiland, president of Sanford Health Network. “Already this year, surgical volume is up 24 percent more than anticipated, which is a tribute to the surgeons and surgical staff.”