BOISE, Idaho — St. Luke’s broke ground today for its Boise campus development project. The new campus, at North First Street and East Fort Street, will include 80 additional beds, seven new operating rooms, and a 180,000-square-foot plaza.
Dennis Mesaros, vice president of St. Luke’s, said the expansion is very needed in order to keep up with Boise’s growing and aging population.
“Right now, we’re out of beds on any given day – all of our hospitals,” Mesaros said. “St. Luke’s, Saint Al’s are out of beds. Idaho is the sixth lowest bed per capita in the country right now.”
The new campus will have a specific focus on heart and vascular care, neurosciences and cancer care.
Mesaros said there has been a 21 percent growth in the community and a 40 percent growth in the senior population across the valley, which is driving the need for more hospital care. This new facility will be able to help accommodate that, Mesaros said.
“Ultimately, it's about making sure that when these doors open so many more people in Boise can get the care that they need that they want,” Mayor Lauren McLean said at the groundbreaking.
Several community members, including city officials and employees at St. Luke’s, attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
Planning for the project started in 2015, and construction is set to be done by 2029.
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