Desert Valley Hospital starts $35 million expansion
Victorville, CA - Construction has started on a $ 35 million expansion project at Desert Valley Hospital (“DVH”) that will add 65 patient beds - 53 medical and surgical beds and a 12-bed coronary/critical care unit, an all inclusive cardiac unit with an outpatient radio-nuclear imaging unit, two new cardiac catheterization laboratories and state-of-the-art cardiac surgery facilities. In addition, the expansion will include educational and conference rooms and a chapel. The DVH expansion will help address the shortage of acute care beds for the rapidly growing communities of the High Desert and is slated to be completed by the Fall of 2010. A Groundbreaking Ceremony will be held Thursday, October 30th at 4:30 p.m.
“In the same spirit that I originally built the hospital in the 90’s to address the acute hospital bed shortage in the High Desert, I am proud that we are able to add much needed acute care beds once again to this growing region,” said Prem Reddy, MD, FACC, FCCP, Chairman of the Board.
Lex Reddy, MBA, MHA, and DVH’s CEO added, “Given the dire economic crisis and the job loss we are facing today, the hospital expansion project will create nearly 500 local jobs for the people of San Bernardino County. In addition, $2,000,000 of the construction cost has been awarded to High Desert contractors and $5,240,000 to San Bernardino County contractor’s.”
Desert Valley Hospital, was founded and built from the ground-up by Dr. Prem Reddy and opened its doors in Spring, 1994. John Rossfeld was the first and present administrator of the hospital. “Desert Valley is at the forefront of healthcare delivery in the Nation. It is a bold move and a serious commitment to address the healthcare needs of the community under the current economic conditions,” said John Rossfeld. “Dr. Reddy needs to be commended for going forward with such an aggressive project during these uncertain times.”
DVH received the coveted “Accreditation with Commendation” from Joint Commission in its first year of operation and has since consistently received the highest scores from Joint Commission and AOA. DVH has been named a Top 100 Hospital in the Nation in 2003, 2005, and 2006 by Solucient/Thomson and Modern Healthcare Magazine and was one of 49 hospitals in the country, and the only hospital in California, to receive the Premier|CareScience Top 1% of Hospitals in the Nation Award in 2007 for highest quality of healthcare standards.
Desert Valley Hospital’s Emergency Department stays open and goes on saturation the least amount of time than other area hospitals, therefore providing more safety net access to the community. DVH also sees more uninsured patients and offers more charity care per bed capacity than any for- profit or not-for-profit competitor (www.oshpd.ca.gov). At the same time DVH provides highest quality of patient care as evidenced by Medicare Hospital Quality Indices (Core Measures) compared to all other hospitals (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov).
“We contribute to or support most every charitable community event in the High Desert,” said Jana Retes, Director of Marketing. “We also support the community through the Dr. Prem Reddy Family Foundation on the DVH campus that offers a public medical library, health education and resources, and community meeting rooms. The Foundation also includes a Coffee and Gift Shop which helps to partially fund the annual scholarships provided to hundreds of students in our High Desert communities. This year alone the Foundation provided $108,000.00 in student scholarships for students pursuing their careers in healthcare.