Indian Health Service Dedicates Addition to the Lawton Indian Hospital
The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, dedicated a new addition to the Lawton Indian Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma, today. Planning for the renovation and expansion of the facility was based on a growing local user population.
“This expansion and ongoing renovation will supplement services provided by the Lawton Indian Hospital, which currently serves over 22,000 American Indians living in the Lawton area,” said Dr. Charles W. Grim, IHS Director. “The new building addition will provide much-needed space for the delivery of outpatient health care.”
The new 36,770-square-foot building expansion has a state-of-the-art energy-efficient design, and includes 36 examination rooms and six treatment rooms. These additional rooms provide increased outpatient service work space for Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Women’s Clinic, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Pharmacy. With the expansion, the hospital can consolidate all clinical and administrative services into one building.
Incorporated into this expansion project are system upgrades and new equipment including a new computed tomography unit. New information technology equipment needed to implement the IHS electronic health record system and telemedicine technology capabilities are also part of the addition.
The new addition was constructed and designed under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Building Rating system. This system is the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction, and operation of high performance buildings. It provides building owners and operators the tools needed for an immediate and measurable impact on a building’s performance. This system promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in key areas of human and environmental health, sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
Design and construction cost of the new addition was approximately $11 million. The Lawton Indian Hospital Service Unit funded approximately 70 percent of the project costs through third-party collections, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and other alternative resources. An additional $2 million is currently being expended for equipment, furniture, and telecommunications and computer upgrades.
NOTICE TO EDITORS: For additional information on this subject, please contact the IHS Public Affairs Office at 301-443-3593. Additional information about the IHS is available at http://www.ihs.gov and http://info.ihs.gov.
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