HCA shows off LV hospital expansion

Friday, Aug. 18, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

MountainView Hospital President Mark Howard took to the lectern Thursday with more than just a feeling of deja vu about the $33.5 million expansion he was about to unveil.

"It seems like just the other day we opened MountainView Hospital," Howard said.

Unprecedented growth, especially in northwest Las Vegas, made it necessary for his 4-year-old hospital to expand.

And it will likely be just three more years until MountainView again needs new beds and operating rooms to complement the expansion unveiled Thursday.

"Even where we thought the hospital was big enough, it wasn't," Howard said.

The expansion added 89,305 square feet and two floors to the existing hospital and includes 72 medical beds, 12 post-partum beds, four new operating rooms, 12 pre-op holding beds, two X-ray rooms, two labor and delivery rooms, a catheterization lab and a new CAT scanner. The hospital now has 192 beds.

"We're very lucky to have such a dynamic leader in health care in our community," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said as he presented Howard with a proclamation from the city.

MountainView is owned by Nashville-based HCA: The Healthcare Co., formerly Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. Its sister Las Vegas hospital is Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center on Maryland Parkway.

Goodman and other guests then toured the expansion -- which should open Sept. 8 -- and hesitated before entering an open-heart surgery operating room.

"We're not going to see an operation are we?" Goodman asked nervously.

The expansion gives MountainView the ability to perform open-heart surgeries.

"With the rapid growth and changes in the makeup of our community, we felt it was essential to expand our surgical capabilities to include advanced open-heart surgery," Howard said.

The expansion includes a larger pharmacy as well as expanded engineering, central processing, medical records and housekeeping facilities. The hospital added 100 parking spaces and will hire additional medical and administrative staff to complement its current staff of 625 people.

Residents can get a look at the expansion during an open house Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The hospital is on Tenaya Way near Cheyenne Avenue, just off U.S. 95.

The open house features free blood pressure and blood sugar checks, fire and health safety tips, educational materials and free gifts.