SSM Health Hospital Open in Jefferson City

SSM Health Hospital officially opened its doors at 6 this morning.

From 6 to 9 this morning workers moved 51 patients from the old St. Mary’s facility to the new one on Mission Drive.

The president of SSM Health said they actually got done sooner than they thought they would.

Brent VanConia, the president of SSM Jefferson City, said St. Mary’s has been serving the Jefferson City area for more than one hundred years.

With the new facility and upgraded technology, health care officials are hoping it will keep local patients coming to them for care, as well as attracting and keeping skilled hospital workers.

“This is really a historic day for SSM, St. Mary’s and the community,” said VanConia.

VanConia said they needed a facility that was current with the new standards of health care.

The new 200 million dollar hospital is what they are relying on to keep up with the times.

“We believe that the physical environment along with the standards of care we have around compassion, respect and excellence, we’ll deliver the best care in the state of Missouri,” said VanConia.

SSM wants to hold the standard high on what health care can truly be.

VanConia said, “We are really trying to create a new standard in what a hospital can be, what it can look like and how it can feel when you come in.”

With private state of the art technology rooms and equipment, SSM Health is on its way to carrying on the tradition of what the founders of St. Mary’s stands for.

“We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and so this facility allows us to do that and continue the tradition, mission and values of serving this community,” said VanConia.

As SSM hospital workers were moving patients from the old hospital to the new one, they moved a mother who was going through labor.

So, in the first few hours of SSM’s opening they have experienced their first birth.

The old facility is shut down now and they are still debating on what they are going to do with the building.