Uniontown Hospital receives $27 million federal loan
Uniontown Hospital announced Tuesday plans to build a parking garage using part of a nearly $27 million federal loan it received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Chief executive officer Steve Handy said that over the years, the hospital has tried to address the parking issue, creating a larger parking area and then adding a shuttle service after visitors complained of the long walk to the facility. They also leased nearby parking spaces.
“Uniontown Hospital was built like a city hospital, where people would walk to it. But today it’s a different situation – people don’t walk to the hospital anymore, they drive,” Handy said. “Our challenge was how to deal with the transportation requirement.”
About half of the project cost will go toward building a three-level, 450-car parking garage for employees behind the annex, so patients and other visitors can park closer to the main entrance.
The project also includes redirecting roads, so patients and visitors have a shorter walk from the parking lot. The redirected roads would eliminate the intersection at the main entrance, and a circular drop-off point would be added.
Other aspects of the project include improving the aesthetics of the hospital; moving the information technology department upstairs; moving a maintenance shed; improving a second entrance area, which could be used for health-related community events; and unifying the campus by making all 20 acres contiguous.
Earlier this month, the city of Uniontown turned over two roads to help make that happen.
Handy said at a town hall meeting earlier this year that the hospital has three main strategic goals: providing excellent patient care, providing a personal patient experience, and creating an aesthetically pleasing and accessible location.
This project meets the goal for aesthetically pleasing and easily accessible.
“We want visitors to realize as soon as they set foot on our campus that this is a special place, where we come together to make a difference in people’s lives in their pain, in their fear and in their sorrows,” Handy said. “Our hospital has to be clinically sterile, but it’s not emotionally sterile.”
Josh Krysak, director of community relations for the hospital, said the federal loan is one of the largest ever received by any entity in Fayette County.
Handy added that getting the loan already has helped to unify many different entities throughout the community.
“We are fortunate and blessed to have a community hospital, when so many community hospitals are having to close,” Handy said. “This project gives us the foundation to ensure that doesn’t happen here in Uniontown.
Curt Coccodrilli, state director of the USDA, said the roles that community hospitals play is critically important.
“My main goal is to start spending more time in Western Pennsylvania,” he said. “We care what happens in these rural communities and we’ll do our darndest to get this project off the ground.”
State Rep. Matthew Dowling said community hospitals and easy health-care access are so important.
“But access isn’t the only thing this campus brings,” he said. “It brings jobs and an economic impact, with increased property values as well as an approach to healthcare that’s friendly to the consumers.”
State Sen. Patrick Stefano added that he’s proud to support projects such as this.
“Thanks for your vision and putting together what was necessary to move this project forward,” he said. “Our health-care systems are an economic driver, and if they stay the same, they’ll be left behind.”
Fayette County Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink said it has been a journey to get to this point.
“Thanks for your dedication in seeing it through because you care for the community,” she said. “There’s a lot more to be done in the county, but with you’re help, we can accomplish it.”
Debra Evans-Rhodes, representative for Commissioner David Lohr, said if you haven’t been to Uniontown Hospital in a few years, then you don’t know Uniontown Hospital. She touted the success of the vision.
Commissioner Vince Vicites said it was a great day for the hospital and the county.
“Securing nearly $27 million for a $32 million project will make a huge difference in the future of this facility,” he said. “We’re lucky to have a community hospital like we do here in Fayette County.”
Handy said osficials are hoping to break ground next year and expects it to be a two- to three-year project.