Altru's new hospital is an impressive feat of engineering and design, built to serve the region for years to come.
By the Numbers
First, let’s talk basic numbers about the old and the new hospitals. Our current hospital has 544,000 square feet with 6 above ground floors and 257 licensed patient beds. Our new hospital, with a working budget of $470 million, has 552,000 square feet with 7 above ground floors and space for 226 licensed patient beds, plus a 16-bed observation unit. We are in line with the national trend of fewer patient rooms due to shortened hospital stays and more outpatient services.
In our current hospital, we have 11 ORs. In our new hospital, we have 12 ORs, which includes spaces for trauma, robotics and a hybrid OR with imaging within the room. We also have an additional 4 cath labs/electrophysiology labs. Currently, we have 3 of those. The smallest ORs in the new hospital are the same size as the largest ORs in the current facility, reflecting a major upgrade in space and technology.
For our ER, the current hospital has 20 monitored patient rooms, while the new hospital has 33 monitored patient rooms. Within those 33 monitored spaces, 11 of them are vertical care spaces. These vertical care spaces have recliners and are for patients who are likely to discharge quickly for things such as sore throats, hand pain, or knee pain.
Construction Numbers
The first evidence to rise in the building of our new hospital was the structural steel - 3,280 tons of it! Next came the foundation containing 6,000 cubic yards of concrete and weighing around 23.4 million pounds. Soon, 800,000 pounds of sheet metal was installed to support the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.
To power all modern medical needs, the hospital has 1,000,000 feet of electrical conduit, 625 miles of wire, and over 21,000 electrical boxes.
We like to talk about the amount of natural light flooding through our new hospital. This is evidenced by over 2,000 doors and 250 window openings! Between these doors and windows, we find nearly 65 acres of drywall, equivalent to 58,539 twelve-foot sheets. The interior drywall was covered with over 10,000 gallons of paint.
And to guide our patients and guests through this impressive facility, we have over 1,800 signs.
All of this and much more was accomplished by thousands of people working on the new hospital. At its peak in the summer of 2023, 450 workers were on-site each day building the future of healthcare for our region. At that time, 60% of the workers were Spanish speaking, so two UND student interpreters were hired to help bridge the language gap.
Timeline
What’s to Come
Demolition of the old hospital and then building of the patient/guest parking lot, as well as another water retention pond, will be completed within two years of when the new hospital opens. The campus will then be transformed into a green space, a Hospital in a Park if you will, with over 3,000 plants, shrubs, and trees, plus walking paths and ponds.
These fun facts highlight the massive scale and thoughtful details that are making Altru's new hospital a state-of-the-art facility!