The project is designed to transform several areas of the hospital while improving the experience for patients, families and employees. Plans call for a new main entrance, expanded maternity services, 13 new inpatient rooms, and a new kitchen and café.

Gunnison Valley Hospital has served residents of Gunnison and surrounding communities since 1932. Over the decades, generations of employees have cared for local residents during medical emergencies, delivered babies, performed surgeries and helped patients recover from illnesses and injuries.

Hospital officials say the new construction will help ensure that same level of local care can continue in modern facilities designed to meet the changing needs of rural healthcare.

“This groundbreaking represents a massive leap forward for Gunnison Valley Hospital and the communities we serve,” said Brenda Bartholomew, CEO of Gunnison Valley Hospital. “By replacing our 1970s inpatient rooms and kitchen, we are matching our physical facility to the high level of modern, compassionate care our staff provides every day.”

New inpatient rooms

One of the largest portions of the project will be a 10,933-square-foot expansion on the west side of the hospital.

The new space will replace inpatient rooms that have served the community since 1970 and will include 13 new patient rooms. The rooms are being designed with an emphasis on comfort, privacy, healing and family involvement during a patient’s recovery.

The updated space will also provide nurses, physicians and other caregivers with an environment better suited to supporting patients.

“We have an incredible team providing compassionate, high-quality healthcare,” Bartholomew said. “We want the environment they work in — and the environment our patients receive care in — to reflect that same level of quality.”

Expanded maternity services

The west wing expansion will also bring additional services for mothers and babies.

Plans include a dedicated Cesarean Section Suite, a new nursery and an additional Labor, Delivery and Recovery room.

For a rural hospital, hospital officials say the improvements are particularly important because they will strengthen the ability to provide maternity care close to home.

Keeping more services available locally can be especially valuable for families who might otherwise have to travel to larger medical centers for certain procedures or specialized care.

A new front entrance

Another highly visible change will take place on the north side of the hospital, where a new main entrance and lobby will be constructed.

The new admitting area is intended to provide patients with greater privacy when checking in while also making the entrance easier for patients and visitors to locate.

The hospital’s gift shop will remain near the lobby, while the area adjacent to the new entrance will include the hospital’s new cafeteria and kitchen.

A kitchen and café for the community

The project will also replace the hospital’s original kitchen, which dates to 1970.

The new kitchen will provide updated space for preparing patient meals and supporting hospital food services. Next to it will be a new GVH café that hospital leaders hope will become a gathering place for employees, patients, families and community members.

“We want the café to be a gathering place where people feel welcome,” Bartholomew said. “We would love to see employees sitting down together for lunch, families having a comfortable place to visit, and community members stopping in for a meal.”

The goal, she said, is for the hospital to remain closely connected to the community it serves.

Investing in hospital employees

While Wednesday’s groundbreaking focused on construction, hospital leaders emphasized that the project is also an investment in the people who provide care.

Many Gunnison Valley Hospital employees live in the communities surrounding the hospital. They are neighbors, parents, coaches, volunteers and friends, and often provide care to people they know personally.

Liz Brown, director of human resources, said that personal connection is an important part of what makes rural healthcare special.

“When I think about Gunnison Valley Hospital, I don’t think first about our buildings — I think about our people,” Brown said. “Our employees live here, raise their families here and care for people they know and love. They are the heart of this hospital.”

Creating a positive workplace culture has become an organizational priority at GVH, and hospital leaders see the new facilities as another way of supporting employees.

“We believe the way we care for our employees ultimately affects the way we care for our patients,” Brown said. “We want our employees to have a workplace that reflects how much we value what they do.”

Honoring the past

As construction begins, hospital officials are also mindful of the history contained within the portions of the facility being replaced.

The inpatient rooms have cared for generations of patients since 1970, while the original kitchen has served patients, employees and families for more than five decades.

Those spaces have become part of the story of Gunnison Valley Hospital, but hospital leaders say the new construction represents an opportunity to carry that history forward rather than leave it behind.

“There is something special about rural healthcare because there is a personal connection,” Bartholomew said. “Our patients aren’t just patients — they are our neighbors, our friends and sometimes our own family members. As we grow and modernize, we never want to lose that.”

The groundbreaking marks the beginning of a significant physical transformation for Gunnison Valley Hospital. At the center of the project, however, is the same mission the hospital has followed since opening its doors in 1932: providing quality healthcare close to home and caring for the people of Gunnison Valley and Central Utah.

As construction moves forward, the hospital hopes the new facilities will serve the community for generations just as the spaces being replaced have done for more than 50 years.