Everything old is new again – or so officials of the Jackson County (Iowa) Regional Health Center hope. As the COVID-19 pandemic forces healthcare officials nationwide to reassess everything they thought they know about available spaces for patients, the system is looking for potential uses for its existing structure as a new one is about to come online.

Early next year, the upgraded Jackson County Regional Health Center will be open and ready to better assist patients with both everyday maladies and COVID-19, according to the Telegraph-Herald. Construction on the new $37 million hospital should be complete by late December, with opening day planned for Feb. 11. The new facility will have a better air ventilation system to help lessen the spread of COVID-19.

Earlier this year, the hospital’s board of directors discussed the fate of the old hospital with an eye on residential uses. The board hopes to put together a request for proposal in hopes of talking with local developers interested in purchasing the old hospital and repurposing some buildings or building a completely new structure on the 12-acre lot.

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