St. Mary Medical Center’s New Surgical Pavilion Helps Hospital Continue to Serve the Community

St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart hosted a ribbon cutting and blessing for their newly finished 32,000 square foot Surgical Services Department in early December, a very momentous occasion. It marked a great transition into the future of surgical care.

Hospital officials, staff, community leaders, and others gathered in the department’s halls and were welcomed by Janice Ryba, CEO of St. Mary Medical Center.

“What a great time to celebrate this wonderful gift; a gift to our patients, a gift to our surgeons, a gift to our community,” Ryba said. “Perhaps we can look at it as cutting the ribbon on one extraordinary gift… We are so proud of our truly state of the art surgery department.”

In 1973, St. Mary Medical Center started with three operating rooms, one cystoscopy room, and four recovery bays. Three additional operating rooms, more recovery bays, and more additions were put into the center between 1988 and 2001. The addition of the surgical pavilion adds 12 large surgical suites, one minor procedure room, two cystoscopy rooms, and two endoscopy suites. The suites are twice the size of the hospital’s previous rooms, there’s a new central sterilization department, phase II recovery unit and same-day surgery, and a post-anesthesia care unit located in the new department. The design of the facility was created with top priority of patient safety in mind. All material and equipment used to build the department is meant to reinforce a sterile environment and infection control. Over 30 contractors took part in the creation of the new pavilion. The general contractor was Walsh Construction and the architect was VOA Associates.

“Our mission is to improve the quality of life for every person who walks through our doors because there is no greater gift than the gift of health,” Frankie Fesko, Chairperson of the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana as well as a member of the Board of Directors said. “We want to be part of the Hobart community and have a lot of jobs to offer here and we hope that we can help make Hobart a better place to live. It’s a wonderful community with great schools and affordable housing and we’re thrilled to be part of it.”

The latest technology can be found in the surgical pavilion, too: video integration systems, a robot-assisted daVinci SI surgical system®, surgical navigation systems, laser surgery, and laparoscopic equipment.

“I want to congratulate Janice and her staff on this accomplishment,” John Gorski, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana said. “Janice is probably one of the most focused and considerate CEOs in terms of working with her staff on trying to bring the best out of everyone she works with… We’ve done the construction part, and the technology part, and I have every confidence that we have the staff and physicians who will be doing the most important part, which is taking care of all of you.”

A big red ribbon was held up and everyone surrounded Ryba as she happily snipped through it, symbolically commemorating and ingraining the moment in the minds of everyone involved.

Tours were given after the ribbon cutting, showing off the amenities of the department. The rooms were clean and bright – and very spacious – with the equipment, technology, and more at the ready for the official opening which will take place a week later. A reception was held next to the department with food and drinks prepared by the hospital kitchen staff. Everyone mingled and marveled over the offerings of the new pavilion.

“I can’t say enough about [St. Mary Medical Center’s] willingness to invest in our community,” Hobart Mayor Brian Snedecor said. “To have that vision and then to have those who carried out that vision; it was truly a team effort. Within the last couple years, I personally experienced the extremely great care that the staff at St. Mary Medical Center provides for their patients. I just think this hospital is the greatest… I can’t say enough how proud I am of you. Keep up the good work.”