Avera Health announces largest expansion in system's history

Avera Health in Sioux Falls will be starting work on its largest building project in all of Avera’s more than 120 years, as well as Sioux Falls’ history of hospital patient care space expansions. This new 350,000-square-foot development, totaling a cost of $245 million, was announced at a press conference Wednesday morning by system healthcare administrators at the Avera Prairie Center.

Part one of two for this project will be a six-story tower addition to Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center, located at 1325 S. Cliff Avenue. Walking through the new main entrance this structure will provide, Avera will be able to offer a centralized, dedicated space to expand women's and children's acute and hospital care services.

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The second of this endeavor will be to build a three-story structure on the Avera on Louise Health Campus at 69th Street and Louise Avenue. This new building will be solely for digestive health services.

Avera President and CEO Jim Dover, FACHE and Avera McKennan Regional President and CEO Dr. Ronald Place were joined by Dr. Katherine Wang of Neonatology and philanthropist and civic volunteer Jennifer Kirby to share the news.

The moment showcased various renderings of what is planned for the two large projects. Mockups of both pediatric and post-partum inpatient rooms were also available.

“This project is important to all of Avera’s 300 locations. Our tertiary hospital is foundational to the quality of care we’re able to deliver as an interconnected system," Dover said. "Years of planning and research have gone into evidence-based care for the population we serve, and I’m confident this project will benefit patients for generations to come."

Sioux Falls is growing at an estimated 2.5% a year, increasing by more than 100,000 residents during the next 15 years according to metropolitan statistical data.

“The rapid growth of our Sioux Falls community is exciting, and it also means Avera McKennan must grow with it," Place said. "We are looking to the future and preparing to care for the people of our growing region."

As a result, this expansion will create 158 more beds for Sioux Falls patients now and in the future, as well as the increased need for medical services for aging Baby Boomers and Generation X.

As the largest female-founded organization in the area, Avera “has a full depth of women’s specialty care,” which includes obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine, gynecologic oncology, urogynecology and internal medicine.

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Another area of growth Avera has seen for the last 20 years is in pediatrics. There are a total of 25 general pediatricians at Avera overall, 10 of whom practice in Sioux Falls. There is also a substantial amount of subspecialties Avera Pediatrics provides such as cardiology, critical care/intensive care and trauma, endocrinology, gastroenterology, infectious disease, neonatology, nephrology, neurology, orthopedics and pulmonology/sleep medicine. Avera’s family practitioners are also there to provide ongoing care to children.

The six-story tower planned for Avera’s main campus will allow all of these to exist in a building, as well as expand other services crucial to women’s and children’s health, including labor and delivery, postpartum care, newborn nursery, neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric hospital care and pediatric intensive care.

“As a father of four children who needed care early on in their lives, I know there’s always the decision of, ‘Do I stay or do I go elsewhere?’" Dover said. "The best care is always when you can stay in your own home and have your family support group nearby.”

Referring to Avera’s expansion project, Dover also said, “It’s the best of both worlds, but our quality is top-notch."

As of now, Avera’s gastroenterology services take place in the Avera Speciality Hospital and attached medical building. The new build at the Avera on Louise Health Campus will provide a new and more expansive place for digestive services. Once these services have moved to the new space, the Speciality Hospital will become Avera’s prime location for its evergrowing orthopedic services.

To create space for the new orthopedic area, the Plaza 3 building on the Avera McKennan campus will be removed. Currently, the Avera Transplant Institute and dialysis center reside here but will be relocated with its exact location yet to be announced.

For Avera employees, these projects will be adding more employees for Sioux Falls, Dover said.

“This means…we will continue to have significant growth in our employment workforce here," Dover said.

Dover also said as part of that workforce expansion, the region can expect an additional 150 doctors during the next three years.

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“So when you can build clinical spaces that enable really extraordinary people to collaborate, better work together, to do it faster, that just enables that clinical excellence to continue to improve,” Place said. “So I believe…we're matching the exceptional staff we have with a building that not only supports it but enables that to be committed.”

Construction is expected to begin in mid to late summer at both campuses. Demolition will take a few weeks, and Avera officials anticipate building during the next two and a half years or so, Place said.

The Avera on Louise project is estimated to be completed by early 2026. The main campus building endeavor will finish in early 2027.

“It has been a privilege to talk through and develop a project that will take a really exceptional organization and make it even better in support of this community," said Place, who spent 35 years in the military before moving back to South Dakota. "My parents still live in the area, my mother-in-law still lives in the area and our youngest son and grandkids live here. To come home and be part of this community project is just, it's a dream come true for me.”

Learn more about these upcoming projects at Avera.org/McKennan-Future.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Avera Health announces largest expansion in system's history