Alaska Beat

Providence announces $150 million expansion

Providence Alaska Medical Center announced today that it will spend $150.3 million to expand its Anchorage campus. The improvement will improve the hospital's newborn intensive care unit, maternity center, and cardiac surgery program.

"This project really got its start because of the needs of the tiniest Alaskans," said Richard Mandsager, the hospital's CEO.

There's an increased need for newborn intensive care as more women have babies in their late 30s and 40s, Mandsager said, because a higher percentage of those births have complications.

The project will expand the newborn intensive care unit from 47 to 66 beds, will add a second operating room for cardiac surgery, and will have improved spaces for visiting families.

The project still needs to be approved by the state Department of Health and Human Services. Mandsager said he expects construction to begin in spring of 2011 and to finish sometime toward the end of 2014.

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