MOUNT VERNON – Standing in front of a tent packed with Knox County’s biggest stakeholders, Ted Schnormeier spoke softly into the microphone. He missed his wife.
He recalled a day not long ago when they sat, brainstorming ways to contribute to Knox Community Hospital’s new project – the Family Care Center, which would provide added services for families across the county.
“She discussed with me her desire to make a sizable, six-figure monetary contribution, and wondered where I would be on the matter,” Schnormeier remembered. “I responded that she made only one mistake – that was that she was not thinking big enough, and that we should donate a multiple of ten times what she had suggested.
“She responded positively and we proceeded accordingly.”
Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Family Care Center served as a way to honor Ann, who passed away in November, Schnormeier said. Before she passed, she was a member of the construction committee responsible for the project. Ann and Ted were among the first to donate to the center.
What followed on Monday morning was the turning over of dirt by 11 esteemed community leaders, from Jen Odenweller of The Ariel Foundation to Knox Community Hospital CEO Bruce White. It was the formal beginning of a construction process that White estimates will take 20 to 24 months.
“This is a super start for a really exciting project,” White said afterwards. “We’ve been planning this project for quite a while, doing all the programming and identifying all the services that are necessary. This is exciting because we know family care is so important to our community as it continues to grow.”
Project donors, Knox County Commissioners, members of the architectural and construction teams involved with the project and other community leaders joined hospital staff to celebrate the groundbreaking on Monday morning.
The new Family Care Center will be a four-story, 80,000 square foot facility resting on the hill east of the Knox Medical Pavilion. It will cost $45 million from start to finish, White said.
The new facility will house KCH family medicine providers, pediatricians, OB/GYN providers, cardiology practices and cardiac rehab, women’s diagnostic imaging, endocrinology, a new lab and a “larger, more home-like, brand new, state-of-the-art birthing center,” according to KCH director of marketing and development Jeffrey Scott.
Elford Construction will handle the project, which KCH chief operating officer Bruce Behner said will be broken up into two phases. The first will be laying down infrastructure and designing parking lots, as the one currently placed on the property will be moved and expanded; this will likely last through December. The next phase will be the construction of the facility.
Scott said in his opening remarks that the hospital saw a need for the new facility due to rising demand from the community and a shrinking amount of space in the hospital’s current facilities.
“With more than 60 employed physicians and more than 20 specialty services, space does become a highly valued commodity,” Scott said. “Today, our hospital tower and Knox Medical Pavilion are nearing capacity, while the need for providers and services continues to grow. That is why we are here to embark on this important project.”
Knox Community Hospital Board President Ian Watson told the crowd that the board looked at the community’s needs and concluded the project would be worthwhile.
“Our goal as a board is to determine what health needs exist in our community, and then prioritize them for solutions. One of the needs that has existed for a number of years has been a more robust solution for pediatric services,” Watson said. “The board has fully supported the progress made in expanding the department with two new OB/GYNs. We also strongly supporting the addition of two new pediatricians. We are excited about the future facilities for them here.”
Midway through Monday’s ceremony, Knox Community Hospital Foundation Chair Charlie Brenneman announced that the foundation had already received over $10 million for the facility in donations and pledges. He said that the foundation is working to reach out to more individuals and businesses who might be willing to donate, and reminded those in attendance that “no donation is too small.”
While the addition of the Family Care Center will bring new services to the hospital’s campus, it will also free up space in the hospital tower and Knox Medical Pavillion for the Cancer Center and other clinical services to expand, as some of the hospital’s services will be moving out to be a part of the new center.
Looking out upon the crowded tent at Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony, White seemed thrilled with the turnout. He thought of it as symbolic.
“You never know what kind of turnout you’re going to have when you have a groundbreaking, but this is indicative of the kind of support that we have in our community,” White said. “(It) is really reaffirming because whenever people come out and show this kind of support, it shows that we’re probably heading in the right direction because they’re supportive and they say, ‘Yep, we like what we’re seeing.’ So it’s just a blessing to have everybody out here today.”
White believes that the new center falls in line with the hospital’s overall mission: “to add value.”
“Our goal is to have value here. We continue to add value to this community,” he said. “A community needs many things; they need strong infrastructure, they need a strong school system, they need a strong government system, they need an employment base, and they need great health care. And continuing to add to the health care that’s available here locally is a sacred mission, truly, for the growth of this community.”
