G. Wythe may buy
hospital property

By TASHA WILLIAMS
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

George Wythe College and the Utah Division of Veterans Affairs are both considering buying Valley View Medical Center’s old building as hospital administrators anticipate the move to the new facility on North Main Street Monday.
“We’ve talked about the Veterans Affairs, but because of state budget cuts, they’re not looking so strongly,” said Steve Smoot, VVMC administrator.
Smoot said George Wythe is a more likely match, but he’s unsure of how the college would use the space.
“We’d like to see the building stay alive,” he said. “We want to make sure it has a good use in the community.”
Scott Wilson, vice president of development for George Wythe, declined to comment.
“We’re still negotiating details,” Wilson said.
The price of the building hasn’t been determined, Smoot said. He said he believes it is more likely George Wythe will purchase the building than Veterans Affairs.
“Value is in the eye of the beholder,” Smoot said. “It could be anywhere from nothing to $5 million.”
He said the realistic value is between $1 million and $1.5 million. The new facility cost $32 million, Smoot said.
Harry Brown, public relations director for the hospital, said the hospital is willing to donate the old building to the Veterans Affairs. He said the hospital sees the donation as a good opportunity for the Veterans Affairs to “fill the void” between their Las Vegas and Salt Lake City hospitals.
Bob Behunin, Cedar City building and zoning official, and Larry Palmer, Cedar City building inspector, said demolishing the building is a last resort.
If the building were eliminated, the property could be used for apartment buildings and duplexes because of the area’s zoning.
At 23 acres, the new facility is 10 acres larger. Smoot said there was no attempt to funnel patients to St. George as some have suspected.
“No one downsized care in Cedar City,” Smoot said.
The facility focuses on out-patient care because Cedar City has a younger average age. He said each hospital works around the community for a customized feel.
“This facility is perfect for Cedar City, but it probably might not work in a community like American Fork,” Smoot said.
Students who are from larger markets are more likely to travel to other locations than take advantage of the Cedar City hospital, Smoot said. Frequently, students from bigger markets think they need to go out of town to achieve better care, he said.
“We have a lot of students who have made that choice,” Smoot said. “If there’s things I need to fix with the problems I’ve had, I’d encourage them to talk to me.”
The hospital was built for the growth of the future, and Smoot

said the goal was “to handle the growth of the community for five years.” After five years, Smoot said he expects the first expansion to occur in the OB division.
Designers worked to keep support devices on the lower level and only keep the necessary facilities on the upper level. In addition, patient rooms were kept toward the edges of the building for better light. Other staff functions were left toward the inside, Smoot said.
The hospital features 42 all-private patient rooms, eight more than the old facility. But because the hospital was designed in preparation for future expansion, as many as 20 beds may be added. The rooms all have private bathrooms.
“These rooms are spectacular; I don’t know what else to say,” Smoot said.
Because the rooms only have one patient, the hospital will be able to control infection rates better, he said.
ER and OR space is twice as large, Smoot said.
Of particular importance is the expansion of the OB rooms. Designers added two additional Labor Delivery Rooms and two more Post Delivery Rooms to lure future parents to the Cedar City hospital.
The LDRs feature fold-out couches for husbands to sleep, recessed lighting for a more relaxed atmosphere and two of the rooms have jetted tubs.
Smoot said the hospital is trying to recapture those who risk traveling to St. George for their health care.
“Students that come in from out of town need to realize, especially married students, that there’s absolutely no reason to risk driving down the road,” Smoot said.
Smoot said he would remind students the new hospital is a state-of-the-art facility, so there is no reason to go to St. George for delivery.
The newborn nursery is twice as large and features a level II nursery that can handle babies up to two months premature, Smoot said. The nursery is placed before the patient rooms so visitors can admire babies without bothering families of the newborns.
Also featured at the hospital is the Intensive Care Unit with six total rooms, two additional rooms for step-down. The ICU at the old hospital was “embarrassing,” Smoot said.
This summer the ER will add a bedside registration process to allow nurses to directly transfer patients without filling out paper work in the waiting area. It has also doubled in size, featuring 13 rooms, two of which are Trauma Rooms off the ambulance bay.
The ambulance bay will make entry more efficient, so employees won’t block other doorways. The bay will also be helpful in the removal of deceased bodies, which at the old hospital were removed by hearse at the front entrance.
Smoot said ER doctors are board-certified physicians who spend 24 hours in the ER.
“These guys are good,” Smoot said.
The Imaging Unit includes a CT Machine — used for CAT scans — that cost the hospital between $500,000 and $700,000 and an MRI machine that cost $1.5 million. He said the MRI machine will be the fastest machine in southern Utah until next year when another hospital replaces its machine with the newest technology.
The Routine Diagnostic Center is an area of the hospital where patients will only have to wait once instead of traditionally waiting between registration, blood work, counseling services and other general x-ray.

Proposal:
Expand border limit

By TASHA WILLIAMS
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

SALT LAKE CITY— Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Dist. 28, spoke with SUU students after Wednesday’s rally at the Capitol about a proposed amendment that would increase border exemption to 200 miles instead of the current 100-mile statute, which could possibly extend SUU’s border limits for residency to Las Vegas.
Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Dist. 25, and the bill’s sponsor, said he suspects the amendment will pass if it gains support from Rep. Martin Stephens, R-Dist. 6, the house speaker. Hillyard said he thinks Stephens has shown support for the bill.
Students who met with Hatch and Hillyard were excited about the possibility of expanding the border’s limits, but were unhappy that students from outside this area would still be excluded. Under the proposal, out-of-state students must still obtain 60 credit hours and 24 months in Utah schools to qualify for residency.
“But that 24 months and the 60 hours is the important thing because this (amendment) limits it to geographical area,” said Glynn Wilcox, associate justice for the Judicial Council. “We’re not getting diversity from out of state. Yes, 200 miles would be great, it would help, but we’re still cutting out a good chunk of people outside that range.”
Brittani Wheeler, a freshman theatre arts major from Visalia, Calif, attended the meeting with Hatch Wednesday. She said this semester she had to cut back her credits because it’s too expensive for her to take classes at SUU.

“It makes me angry,” Wheeler said. “I really think there’s not much they can do, but it’s ridiculous that they don’t understand it’s affecting people like me who live outside this 200-mile range. If one of these bills doesn’t pass I have to go back to California and sacrifice a good education at this school and maybe go to a community college until I can.”
Kristy Cammack, a freshman communication major from San Antonio, also attended the meeting with Hatch. When she came to SUU she said she chose to decline other schools in Utah and Texas.
“When I was accepted at SUU, the bill passed,” Cammack said. “So I was totally uninformed.”
Wilcox said out-of-state students also spend money in Utah to boost the economy because they are forced to open banking accounts, pay rent and purchase groceries.
“An out-of-state student spends more in this state than an in-state student does,” he said.
Hillyard said student support of the amendment would show legislators they support the change.
The Legislature is also discussing the probability of an $11 million cut to higher education funding and is considering a tax increase to ease the pain.
The answers are “still up in the air” but will be resolved by March 5, the end of the Legislative Session, said Rep. DeMar “Bud” Bowman, R-Dist. 72.
“It’s been a rough, rough year followed by a rough previous year,” Bowman said.
Should the cuts be approved, university presidents will choose which programs are least important, he said. Bowman said he has high confidence in President Steven D.Bennion to make these decisions.
“It will be painful to cut any of them,” Bowman said.
The students’ efforts at the rally to encourage legislators to protect funding are listened to by representatives, he said.