When Fairview Red Wing Medical Center opened six years ago, it was expected that the space would meet the health care needs of our communities for 10-20 years. For most departments that estimate was right on target. But the surgery department is bursting at the seams. In August, the Fairview Health Services board of directors approved plans for an $11 million expansion at the medical center in Red Wing: the Fairview Red Wing Surgery Center.

Planning has been underway for over a year and the final approval means that work on the project will begin in October.

In the six years since the medical center opened, surgical volumes have increased by nearly forty percent. With the increase it has become more difficult to schedule surgical procedures. The surgery center will have 5 operating rooms and 22 private rooms for same day surgery (SDS) patients. The medical center currently has 3 operating rooms and 12 SDS patient rooms.

To improve the experience for our patients, the new Surgery Center will centralize the entry for all surgical visits, whether for a clinic visit or a scheduled procedure, to one entrance. Surgical clinic patients will no longer need to check in on the main level. All the check in and registration will be located at the new entrance on the lower level with convenient adjacent parking.

“We are doing more procedures all the time and new technology is expanding the types of procedures we do,” says Beth Thomas, D.O., “In addition, our surgical staff is growing. This year Jaswin Sawhney, M.D. has joined our staff with expertise in general surgery and hand surgery. We have a new ENT physician, Dr. Keith Becker, who will begin his practice in Red Wing in November. Increased types of procedures together with our increased staff will be accommodated with the expansion.

” Throughout the expansion construction, the surgery area will continue operations. Staff will maintain the quality of care that we provide our surgical patients. When construction begins, the lower level entrance to same day surgery will be closed. Surgery patients will enter on the main level and be escorted by volunteers to the appropriate area. “This is an exciting development for Fairview Red Wing Medical Center and the patients we serve,” said Scott Wordelman, president and CEO of Fairview Red Wing Health Services. “This Surgery Center will provide a complete state-of-the-art surgical facility that keeps our patients at the center of all we do. We are committed to providing the Red Wing community with exceptional care.”