A new medical facility in Camp Verde is going through some of the final phases of construction.
The Verde Valley Medical Center Camp Verde campus has been going up at the intersection of State Route 260 and Finnie Flat Road for a few months.
Last week, administrative and construction officials with the medical center gave a tour of the unfinished facility to help show what people in Camp Verde Medical Center could expect from the new state-of-the-art building.
The 26,000-square-foot building sits on around 11 acres of undeveloped land, VVMC Plant Operations Manager Jim Paris said.
The organization bought the surrounding land more than five years ago, just over 29 acres.
At the time, hospital officials said that the organization wanted to be prepared ahead of time with a prime piece of property once the economy started to recover.
The new building will have extended hours to accommodate residents who need the facility.
“We did a lot of community outreach it order to discuss what would best serve the community,” Paris said.
The building is not an urgent care facility; it will offer services that strictly urgent care facilities do not. Those include some primary care and lab services.
The new building will also provide optometric services and aqua-therapy options, using a pool with constantly moving water to help assist with reducing the impact on the body.
Paris said that the facility would also offer equine therapy.
A half-mile walking track will also be built around the campus.
The facility will feature the equipment for X-rays and imaging.
Paris said the Camp Verde campus will use a new patient check-in system as well.
Patients can check in at kiosks and will be notified when they can be seen.
Paris likened it as similar in some ways to systems that alert people in restaurants when their table is ready.
“We’re also going to have a conference room that the public can use,” Paris said.
All of it is hooked up with video conferencing technology.
There will also be an area for a helicopter to land, though Paris said that would be primarily to take patients to other locations.
“When they need a helicopter, often it’s to take them to Flagstaff or Phoenix,” he said.
While the back wall of the lobby is currently open to the outside, the view of the surrounding valley will remain the same once it becomes a huge window to frame the room.
Mike Thomas, construction manager for the project, said things have been going according to schedule.
The medical center already operates some medical offices up the road near the Outpost Mall Shopping Center.
The new center will have a staff of more than 20 people, Paris said, with many volunteers.
Those offices will be closed and eventually leased out once the new medical center opens.
Paris said he hopes that the building will be ready for use possibly by February or early spring.
The center is being built by Kenny Construction Services, an agency with offices around the country, including in Phoenix, Cottonwood and Flagstaff.
“We’re excited for what this will mean for care in the Verde Valley,” Paris said.
