DIGNITY HEALTH
Marian Regional Medical Center of Santa Maria, Calif., is settling into a replacement hospital that is twice the size of its old facility. As Catholic Health World went to press, the 191-bed, $218 million hospital was set to open May 22.
The new facility has a larger emergency department than in the old building; a larger critical care unit; a neonatal intensive care unit; surgical cardiac, cancer, orthopedic and women's services; and imaging. It is adjacent to the 167-bed hospital that it is replacing; and it is connected to the legacy building on two floors. Marian will refurbish the outmoded facility to house specialty services, outpatient services and administrative office space.
Sr. Patricia Rayburn, OSF, provincial minister of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity in Redwood City, Calif., said the new hospital and outpatient service space is necessary because the population of California's Central Coast is growing.
She noted that Marian Regional serves an area with many immigrants, many low-income people and other underserved populations. She said the opening of the medical center not only will provide them with greater access to health care — the construction project also is providing a needed boost to the local economy during a recessionary period.
Design elements in the new facility pay tribute to Marian Regional's mission-based legacy: Stained glass windows from a former Sisters of St. Francis motherhouse in Redwood City were installed in the new hospital's chapel. Statues of three of the order's patron saints stand at the base of a tower of the new hospital. That tower is adorned with the Greek Tau cross adopted by the sisters to represent lifelong commitment to Christ and dedication to living the Gospel.