Mount Nittany Health administrators and staff on Tuesday celebrated the groundbreaking for a major addition to Centre County’s only acute care hospital.
The new 10-story patient tower at the medical center in College Township is projected for completion in late 2026. The 300,000-square-foot addition on the south side of the medical center will include 168 private patient rooms and will enable existing semi-private rooms to be converted to single-occupancy, so all of the hospital’s inpatients will have their own room. When completed, Mount Nittany’s bed count will grow by five to 248 and its license for 260 beds will not change.
Architectural firm Stantec designed the addition with input from the hospital’s care providers and staff.
“Having the ability to be part of the design and plan of this new hospital and also having it designed to modern standards… having the access to technology and the private rooms is really going to improve patient care,” Dr. Thomas Covaleski, internal medicine specialist and hospitalist, said. “It’s all about relationships with patients and it’s really hard to have things like that when you’re in a room with another patient. For the staff we’re looking forward to having spaces geared toward patient care, but also for our satisfaction by having more natural light and a bigger space to work in.”
The nonprofit health system first announced the $350 million project in September 2021 and its board of directors advanced plans last fall. College Township Council approved a final land development plan in April.
Plans for the tower include telemetry capabilities, outpatient clinics, point-of-care registration, a modernized data center, staff amenities, improved storage, outdoor spaces and enhanced dining. A dining terrace will be connected to a new cafeteria and the area around the addition will have natural landscaping with gardens and walking paths.
Large windows for the patient rooms will allow for natural daylight and views of the landscape.
“There was a lot of anticipation building up to this project,” Sean McCartney, registered nurse, said. “As far as the significance for the staff goes, we’re going to have new, upgraded facilities, which, the setting here is already great but it’s going to be improved — bigger spaces … to care for the patients and updated technology. It’s a great thing for the community overall. We’ll have this new facility; every patient will have their own room, and we’ll be able to kind of concentrate more on care.”
McCartney added that with every patient having a private room, isolation for viruses, such as was needed with COVID-19, will be less challenging.
A time capsule with a variety of items representing the hospital’s past and present will be buried in the new building to be opened in 25 years. The project also will include 177-space parking deck connected to the tower by a covered walkway, and a two-story central energy plant.
The patient tower addition is Mount Nittany Health’s second recent major construction project as part of an ongoing plans for expansion and renovations at the medical center and outpatient locations.
A new four-story outpatient medical center is under construction and is expected to open in 2024 at Toftrees West in Patton Township.
Other recent initiatives include major expansions and renovations of the Joseph V. and Suzanne P. Paterno Women and Children’s Services Unit women and children’s unit and the clinical laboratory, as well as renovations imaging department at the medical center to create a newly designed diagnostic pavilion on the main floor of the hospital and the addition of a new inpatient dialysis unit.
Mount Nittany Medical Center traces its history back to the opening in 1902 of an infirmary in Bellefonte, and Covaleski said the recent and upcoming facility projects are part of a commitment spanning more than a century to care for the community.
“I think Mount Nittany’s made a commitment as part of the initial legacy from 1902 when the infirmary started in Bellefonte to have an independent hospital here in Centre County to take care of the members of our valley and the outskirts,” he said. “So I think it’s important to understand as lots of things change in health care that Mount Nittany’s still committed to providing the utmost best technology, best care and best caregivers to our patients here. This is all about giving back to the community and building the facility that can stand another 50 years like this one did to serve our patients. That’s what it’s all about.”
McCartney added that he is excited for what will be Mount Nittany’s largest building endeavor since he began working at the hospital in 2009.
“It’s just to continue to grow, to continue to improve the ability and opportunity to take better care of our patients,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing. We’re here for the community. We’re here to take care of our patients, and this is going to help facilitate all that.”
