DICKSON CITY, Pa. -- Work has begun on a new hospital in Lackawanna county scheduled to be open next spring.
The construction crew worked through the rain and snow Thursday. They're just starting the process of adding on to an existing building which used today be Scranton Orthopedics, now owned by Coordinated Health out of the Lehigh Valley.
The ground was wet but was still ceremoniously broken along Main Street in Dickson City just a stone's throw from where Mayor Bob MacCallum grew up -- a place he never imagined he would see a hospital.
"Playing over there, and growing up in the Elm Street Park, I never thought there would be a hospital in Dickson City," Mayor MacCallum said.
Plans began when Coordinated Health, a health care company out of the Lehigh Valley, bought Scranton Orthopedics in 2017.
Work has already started to demolish buildings on Main Street to make way for a three-floor hospital, set to open in the spring of 2020.
"We will have a full-service emergency department of the main floor, as well as full-service outpatient imaging with CT scan, ultrasound. We already have MRI available," said Amy Nyber, Coordinated Health.
Coordinated Health kept its plans under wraps until the state Department of Health approved them, but we now know that the hospital will have seven surgery suites and 24 inpatient hospital beds.
Work on the hospital will be going on as the borough works on its Main Street revitalization project. Mayor MacCallum says this new addition to Main Street could pay off in the long run.
"It's going to bring 200 to 300 well-paying jobs here, and it's going to trickle up. People will hopefully want to buy homes here, use services here. I think there's just many, many things that can grow from this," MacCallum said.
Crews have one more building to tear down. Once demolition is done, construction will begin. Coordinated Health's hospital is expected to open next spring.