SSM St. Clare Health Center looking at late 2008 opening
By Steve Birmingham

Construction of the new SSM St. Clare Health Center near Fenton reached a milestone last week with the placing of the last steel structural beam.

A Scandinavian building tradition of placing an evergreen atop the structure was carried out as a way to bless the building and thank the workers for making the construction possible. The ceremony dates back 700 years and signifies good luck, SSM St. Clare spokeswoman Larissa Amrein said.

The structural beam was signed by hundreds of Alberici Healthcare Constructors' workers, hospital administrators and employees, physicians, volunteers and local dignitaries, including Fenton Mayor Dennis Hancock.

The $238 million health center, located on 54 acres at Bowles Avenue and Missouri Highway 141, is the first to be built in St. Louis County in more than 30 years. The hospital is scheduled to open late next year.

It will replace the SSM St. Joseph's Hospital in Kirkwood and many of that hospital's staff will transfer to St. Clare, Amrein said.

The health center will have 154 beds and offer 24-hour emergency room, patient and visitor parking, a full range of surgical, cardiac care and women's health services. Also featured at the health center will be a dedicated outpatient center and a medical office building for primary care doctors and specialists.

The four-story, multiple wing building's design will offer patients one-stop access to all the services they need without having to travel to different locations throughout the health center, Amrein said.

All private patient-family rooms will be large enough to include sleeping accommodations for family members. Also, traditional centralized nursing stations will be replaced by decentralized nursing alcoves to allow nursing staff to be closer to patients, Amrein said.

Bedside computer and electronic scanners will allow nursing staff to register patients and administer medications without having to leave the room.

"This is an exciting day for all who work for SSM, to see this visionary hospital take shape and to share in the ceremonial topping off of the steel structure," Ron Levy, president and CEO of SSM Health Care - St. Louis, said. "Our excitement stems from what this hospital will mean for the St. Louis region, SSM Health Care and, most importantly, the patients and families we serve."