Graphic Courtesy of KDMC

The King’s Daughter Medical Center - Ohio is set to open as Portsmouth’s newest hospital Feb. 4.

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Wayne Allen

PDT Staff Writer

In a press conference Tuesday morning Fred Jackson, President-CEO of King’s Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) announced the opening of King’s Daughters Medical Center Ohio on Scioto Trail in Portsmouth. Once open the facility will be Portsmouth’s newest hospital.

“On Feb. 4 we will open King’s Daughters Medical Center Ohio or KDMCO as it will be called. It’s the newest hospital in the state of Ohio,”Jackson said. “We have already scheduled patients for surgery and a number of other services.”

Jackson said the concept of KDMCO dates back to 2007 when the first phase of the project opened with a medical office building.

“It was designed to be a medical office building with about 27,000 square feet. We’ve expanded that facility twice and quickly found out it was not big enough, we ran out of room. That’s when we started the development of this project in 2008-2009,” Jackson said. “We started the project and had to stop it because of the recession. We could not go any further, based on the economic conditions for our system. We resurrected this project about a year ago.”

He said this project represents a large investment in the Portsmouth community.

“Our original investment was back in 2007, we put about $10 million into the medial office structure, that’s represented by the 27,000 square feet. The 53,000 square feet that this facility represents is about another $25 million dollars. So, we’ll have about a $35 million investment in this campus, when we open on the fourth,” Jackson said.

He said one of KDMC’s goals with this project was to hire as many people from the Portsmouth, Scioto County area as possible.

“We will have about 150 people working here on this campus. We have 60 working in the medical office building. We are hiring an additional 90 people for a total of 150. Approximately 85 percent of that total number are from the Scioto County area,” Jackson said. “The goal was not to bring people in from outside of the area, but to make this a hometown hospital. When we open on Feb. 4 we will have about 50 physicians on staff. About half of them are from the Portsmouth area and about half of them are from within our health system.”

Jackson said KDMC is in 50 different locations in 26 different cities.

“This is our second hospital, our fourth urgent care center and our 51st location,” Jackson said.

Some of the features of King’s Daughters Medical Center Ohio include four operating suites and two cardiac catheterization labs, including a hybrid operating room. According to released information, “the Hybrid OR is designed for heart and vascular procedures, where a cardiologist, vascular surgeon, or cardiothoracic surgeon can work together on complex cases.”

Other features include endoscopy and cystoscopy suites for gastroenterology and urology procedures, 25 pre- and post-operative beds, a 10-bed inpatient unit, including an ICU suite. There is also a laboratory and pharmacy, imaging - with X-ray, CT scan and MRI and Pre-Admission Testing, cardiac testing and more.

It was also announced that starting on Sunday, Jan. 20 the Urgent Care Center located on the campus will be expanding its operations to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week 365 days a year.

Jackson said when the KDMCO facility was designed and built, it was done so with the capabilities to expand.

“We have about 14 acres that represent this campus, which is enough to do just about everything we want to do relative to medical office buildings, parking garages, additional wings to this building. When we built this building we put 63 caissons in the ground that are 24 inches wide and 75 feet deep. This building can go seven stories someday, it’s designed to be a 300 bed hospital,” Jackson said. “Even though we are only staring with 35 beds, ten inpatient and 25 out patient, eventually it’s going the capacity to be a 300-bed facility.”

First Ward Portsmouth City Councilman Kevin Johnson said the facility was an investment in the revitalization of the community.

“The $35 million investment by KDMC into our community, with now some 150 employees, recognizes and validates Portsmouth’s historic, current and future place in our developing and in some ways reinvented Tri-State area,” Johnson said. “I am very proud that this major medical corporation chose to partner with the Portsmouth community with the newest hospital in Ohio. And, of course, I am very proud that their expanding facility is in the First Ward.”

Portsmouth Mayor David Malone was excited about the services the new hospital will bring.

“We definitely welcome them into our community and we appreciate the opportunity for them to provide services to our community,” Malone said.

A number of events are being planned for the opening of the facility. On Friday, Feb. 1 a ribbon cutting will be held at the facility with U.S. Senator Rob Portman. On Saturday, Feb. 2 a community open house will held from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. that will feature free health screenings, giveaways and the opportunity to tour the facility and meet the staff. The facility will open on Monday, Feb. 4.

For more information about KDMCO visit them at 2001 Scioto Trail, Portsmouth or call 740-991-4000 or visit www.kdmcohio.com.

Wayne Allen may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 228, or tallen@civitasmedia.com