FAIRBANKS — The Fairbanks Memorial Hospital’s new $88 million surgery center is on track to be fully operational this spring.
Construction on the 90,000-square-foot facility began in spring 2015 and is expected to be complete by mid-April, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.
The new center will feature seven surgery suites, with one containing a da Vinci Surgical System, a type of surgical robot operated by humans used for “minimally invasive surgery.” Two other suites will house equipment for neurological surgery and cardiovascular surgery.
The new center will also have many state-of-the-art features, including green lighting to help improve a surgeon’s vision during laparoscopic surgery.
“I researched this green light with surgeons on the East Coast and once they use it they never go back,” said Jon Lundquist, who helped manage the construction of the new facility.
The project to replace the hospital’s current surgery center is being funded with $55 million in bond sales and $33 million from the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation’s cash reserves.
“Nowhere in the country will you find a community of this size with a hospital like this,” said Jeff Cook, president of the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation.
Cook said the surgery center improvements will also help attract medical professionals to the area.
