Spectrum Health Pennock Surgery Center Taking Shape

Final fundraising effort focused on taking advantage of matching gift.

HASTINGS, Mich., May 12, 2020 – The excitement continues to build as the new $12 million, 19,000 square-foot Spectrum Health Pennock Surgery Center begins to take shape.

“This is absolutely fantastic,” surgeon and hospital chief of staff Andrew Parsons, MD said. “We’ve really been looking forward to this for a long time. Everybody is very excited about it, as it will be a huge improvement for the hospital, the community and our patients.”

The facility will feature three operating rooms and two endoscopy rooms with a focus on patient privacy and convenience. Patients will have a drive-up entrance and exit, rooms with physical walls instead of curtains and a private hallway that will eliminate transporting patients through public spaces for inpatient care.

Having all procedures in one area on the main floor will also help with registration and other logistics.

“It’s going to be huge for us,” said surgical services manager Cheryl Sinclair. “The staff is extremely excited for this new operating room space. From a patient perspective, having private pre- and post-operating rooms will be a wonderful addition.”

The new operating rooms will be larger than what’s currently being used and will feature leading-edge technology and equipment necessary for more sophisticated procedures.

About 80 percent of surgeries performed at Pennock and across the nation are outpatient procedures. The current surgery center was built for inpatient surgeries and creates inefficiencies in today’s environment.

“The new center is designed with today’s patients in mind,” Dr. Parsons said. “This is really going to improve our care for outpatient surgery.”

As construction crews work toward an October completion date, fundraising efforts are in the homestretch, bolstered by a recent anonymous $225,000 matching gift toward the final $500,000 needed for the project.

“With this very generous, matching gift, we’re within sight of raising $4.5 million in new philanthropy for the project,” said Janine Dalman, Pennock Foundation Executive Director. “Our community has been incredibly generous and excited about the surgery center. With $500,000 remaining to reach the goal, this $225,000 match will be a great catalyst to get us to the finish line. We urge anyone who can still give to take advantage of the matching gift that will allow us to wrap up our campaign.”

“We’re incredibly grateful for the community support we’ve received,” said Spectrum Health Pennock chief nursing officer Steve Marzolf. “We’ve received gifts in all shapes and size, small and large. The response has really gone way above and beyond what we expected.”

The new state-of-the art surgery center will also be helpful when recruiting surgeons and family practice physicians to the area.
“It says to people there’s a commitment to the community here,” Dr. Parsons said. “I think it means a lot. I can’t even describe how excited the physicians and staff are to have this new space, and how much we see the need for it. We’re just so thrilled that it’s coming – it’s fantastic and was one of the deciding factors for Dr. Dargis, our newest surgeon, to join our general surgery team at Pennock.”

Marzolf said the late October completion date is on schedule. An open house is tentatively set for late October.

If you would like to donate to the project, please call Janine Dalman at 269.945.3651 or visit https://www.spectrumhealth.org/foundation, choose Pennock then Pennock Surgery Center.

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Contact:
Janine Dalman
Marketing & Communications
Office: 269.945.3651
Mobile: 269.908.7063
Email: Janine.dalman@spectrumhealth.org