TORRINGTON – Chief Executive Officer Zach Miller of Banner Health-Torrington Community Hospital hosted area residents on tours of the surgical services expansion project at their facility on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Miller hopes the project will be complete the first week in November, but currently, it awaits finalizations and state licensure.
Planning for the project began in 2016, and the initial ground-breaking took place in August 2019. Adolfson and Peterson Construction of Denver, Colo., has been working since then to complete the 13,057 square foot addition and 5,671-foot renovation to the facility.
Miller said the project is about 95% complete. The additions include a new anesthesia work room, an overnight room for staff coming from out of the area, two new technologically advanced operating rooms, new blood draw bays, ultrasound, mammography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) spaces, an expanded sterile processing area, new storage areas for sterile tools, new larger locker rooms and an all-new entry area into outpatient services.
According to Adolfson and Peterson Construction’s website, the expansion required substantial upgrades to existing mechanical and electrical infrastructure systems and parking and site modifications for the increased number of expanded services.
There will be a mammography unit and ultrasound unit near the front entrance in a private hallway.
“We wanted to create a private corridor for imaging,” Miller said. “That was largely because of our mammogram patients. When a woman needs a mammogram, if they have a tumor, often they need a breast ultrasound, as well.”
Previously, women in these circumstances would have to walk from the mammogram unit to the ultrasound unit through a public hallway while wearing a mammogram cape. The new facility layout has prevented this issue entirely by placing both mammography and ultrasound units in a private and sealed hallway.
“It didn’t protect the dignity of a woman,” Miller said.
A highlight of the new entry area to the outpatient center is a hallway filled with images and information about local history. Visitors can learn about the facility and area’s history while waiting for appointments or loved ones to finish-up with their appointments.
Miller also pointed out several photographs hung on the walls throughout the expansion. The photographs are of local ranchers, cattle and scenery. Miller said local photographer Kelsea Vaughan, of Tobiano Studios by Kelsea Vaughan, took the photographs.
“A lot of the art you see in Wyoming hospitals is of the Tetons, but that’s not us,” Miller said. “We wanted to pay homage to what we have.”
With these additions and renovations, Miller said, Banner Health is making about a $25 million investment in Torrington.
“It’s a 40-year-old hospital we are updating,” he said. “Basically, Banner is saying we want to be here to serve the community for a long time.”
