Cedar City Hospital has thrown open the doors on a much bigger emergency department, showing off a $7 million, roughly 4,500-square-foot expansion that hospital leaders say could be a game changer for both locals and the annual wave of park-bound visitors.
The upgrade adds nine treatment rooms, three behavioral-health rooms and an on-site molecular imaging suite anchored by a new PET/CT camera. The project, completed in just under a year, nearly doubles the ER’s capacity to 22 rooms and is designed to keep pace with a growing community, plus the millions of people who pour into nearby national parks and outdoor recreation spots each year.
What Changed Inside the Emergency Department
The hospital’s emergency footprint now includes nine additional treatment rooms, bringing the total to 22, along with three rooms dedicated specifically to behavioral-health patients. The molecular imaging suite was remodeled and outfitted with PET/CT and nuclear medicine capability, rounding out the clinical side of the expansion.
The approximately 4,500-square-foot project, built in just under a year by Jacobsen Construction with Environments for Health as architect, came in at about $7 million, according to a hospital press release. The new imaging suite is set to start scheduling patients next week, and the upgraded ER will continue operating as a Level IV trauma center serving both residents and tourists, as detailed by Intermountain Health.
Already Easing Bottlenecks
“We have been able to utilize several of the new emergency rooms,” emergency department manager Jake Fausett said, noting that the hospital began using parts of the new space in January. Even that partial rollout has started to move the needle.
Hospital officials report that the expanded footprint has helped cut the average patient length of stay by more than 16% so far, which they say has boosted throughput and improved the overall patient experience during busy stretches. Those comments and operational figures were shared in the hospital’s announcement via Intermountain Health.
Why It Matters to Residents and Park Visitors
Local leaders and hospital officials say the goal is straightforward: keep more care close to home and avoid sending patients elsewhere when the town fills up with tourists heading to state and national parks.
As reported by KSL, Cedar City Hospital’s emergency department logged more than 21,000 visits last year, while the imaging department completed more than 57,000 procedures. Hospital leaders pointed to those numbers when making the case for the expansion.
The project is also expected to bring new jobs and tap into a local nursing pipeline, including students training at Southern Utah University, to help staff the larger department. Coverage from the original groundbreaking noted that the hospital would bolster staffing as the new space comes online, a plan Deseret News reported at the time.
