Jill Schramm/MDN Dr. Jeffrey Verhey with Trinity Health Foundation speaks to the Ward County Commission Tuesday regarding the construction of a new medical complex.

Proposing to make good on a $15 million pledge toward a new medical complex in southwest Minot, Trinity Health Foundation is developing a capital campaign that will be rolled out to the community soon.

Dr. Jeffrey Verhey, foundation board chairman, said the campaign has begun internally at Trinity. He spoke to the Ward County Commission Tuesday in delivering one of several community presentations being held to inform the public about the importance of the new hospital and clinic in advance of the external fundraising campaign.

Verhey stressed that Trinity Health is a community organization, run by and for members of the community and region.

“We have people from Minot and from the region who are deciding what’s best for us and deciding how we’re going to move into the future,” he said.

Trinity is investing about $520 million into the facility currently under construction – an amount almost equivalent to Trinity’s $542 million overall economic impact as calculated in 2020.

The Trinity Health Board and administration obtained construction bonds for $320 million.

Verhey outlined the need for a new hospital to replace the existing building constructed in 1922, added onto during more than 15 phases and renovated more than 50 times.

“A 100-year-old facility is not necessarily designed for today, or going into the future, to deliver healthcare,” Verhey said. “We’re taking the next step forward into the future, so we’re really happy and we’re really excited about the possibility of moving into a new facility that now is not just ready for modern-day medicine and the technologies that go along with it, but anticipating the future moving forward.”

The new hospital will have a larger emergency room, with patient rooms equipped for emergency care and observation rooms. An improved emergency room will help address drawbacks of the existing ER and long wait times raised by a focus group, Verhey said.

Another patient concern has been the lack of private rooms on the medical and surgical floors. That will change in the new facility.

“All of our rooms are going to be private. They’re going to have their own bathrooms and there’s a space for families to be there as well, and virtually all of these rooms are going to have views out the window because we want light, and we want it to be a healthy place for these people to be,” Verhey said.

Window design will allow for significant natural light in the buildng. The layout also creates separate elevators and back-hospital spaces for staff use that are separate from front-hospital areas used by the public. This will increase staff efficiency and enable visitors to move around the facility more comfortably, Verhey said.

Another area of public dissatisfaction has been the lack of parking at Trinity hospital, Verhey added. The new site will have 1,300 parking spaces. In addition, the popular guest house across the street from the current hospital will be replicated with a guest house for patients’ families at the new site.

“That’s just the beginning,” he said. “Thinking about the future, we actually have more space around the current buildings that are being built so if we need another office building, there’s a space there.”

Verhey said he expects the new facility to be a source of pride when completed, which is expected to occur in spring or summer of 2023.

“It is an impressive facility,” he said. “Minot will be impressed. Everyone who goes out there will say, ‘Wow, this is a great place. This is befitting the people of northwest North Dakota.'”