Broadlawns Medical Center officials announced that construction is complete on its new hospital floor, and that the new medical-surgical, intensive care and birthing center units will be populated with patients beginning Monday, Aug. 24. 

“It’s an understatement to say that we are excited to have something to celebrate in healthcare right now,” Broadlawns President and CEO Jody Jenner said in a press release. “The new hospital floor is a tremendous step forward for our medical campus and will allow Broadlawns to provide the highest standards of care for our hospitalized patients. The shift to single-occupancy patient suites for our med-surg patients will accommodate privacy, clinical outcomes and cultural sensitivity.”

Construction on the 41,900-square-foot addition to the hospital’s Sands Building began in November 2018. The completion of the $31 million expansion project provides private medical-surgical suites, a state-of-the-art ICU and 10 labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum suites at the hospital, located at 1801 Hickman Road in Des Moines. 

Funding from grants and private donors was secured to equip the new birthing center, including lead gifts from Variety – the Children’s Charity and Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino. The bulk of the project cost was funded from the hospital’s operating reserves. 

“The new hospital floor has been part of our long-range strategic plan for many years and the completion of these new units will assist us greatly in ensuring that our patients have access to therapeutic medical settings that optimize outcomes for healing and recovery,” Jenner said. 

The new inpatient medical-surgical unit has 20 patient suites. The ICU has six patient suites, and the birthing center has 10 patient suites.

In addition to this expansion, Broadlawns in November 2019 opened its second off-site clinic, a 4,500-square-foot family medical clinic and urgent care services office at Cityville on 9th just south of downtown. In March 2017, the hospital completed the new 72,000-square-foot Broadlawns Medical Plaza building on the east side of its campus, which houses a family health center, mental health clinic and dental clinic.

As the community’s safety net hospital, Broadlawns’ mission is to ensure that health care is accessible to everyone in the community, officials said. The majority of Broadlawns patients use Medicaid or have no measure of commercial health insurance. Additionally, Broadlawns serves the health care needs of a culturally diverse patient population, with more than 40 languages spoken weekly throughout the hospital.

A virtual open house will be held on Facebook Live on Thursday, Aug. 20, from 3 to 5 p.m.

View of the Sands Building with the completed third floor.

A birthing center patient suite.

A medical-surgical patient suite.