Richmond hospital nears move to $318 million home

RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) - Reid Hospital's staff begins moving into its a new $318 million home on Wednesday.

About 3,400 people toured the new building during public tours on Sunday, hospital President Barry MacDowell said.

‘‘I tell them what you're seeing is really yours,'' he said.

More than 200 employees gave tours of the building, showing off emergency rooms, surgical areas, nursing stations, the cafeteria and auditorium.

Mark Handley of Richmond said he liked the larger patient rooms, which include sofas for visitors.

‘‘It's tremendous,'' he said. ‘‘It was something that was needed. I just love it.''

‘‘I hope I don't have to use it too often,'' he joked.

On Wednesday, various hospital departments will begin moving into the new 233-bed facility on the city's north side, near the Indiana University East campus. The emergency room and patients will move on Sept. 10.

The hospital decided in 2000 to construct a new building about two miles from the site the hospital had occupied for more than a century.

A medical office building and an outpatient center opened on the new site last year. A rehabilitation center opened near the new hospital in 2004.