By Dan Hounsell, Senior Editor

OhioHealth recently announced details of a six-story, 220,000-square-foot hospital that will include additional cancer services to the Pickerington community. The new hospital will be called OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital and will be built over 30 acres of undeveloped land on site, expanding from the northern side of the current campus.

The expanded cancer space will be 15,000 square feet and feature 16 exam rooms and 20 infusion bays for both oncology and neuroinfusion needs. It will also include a point-of-care lab and an infusion pharmacy that will be co-located with the hospital’s main pharmacy. Level III trauma services will also be coming to Pickerington Methodist, the first trauma center in Pickerington.

“With a Level III trauma center, we’ll be able to promptly assess and stabilize patients and provide services like resuscitation, surgery and intensive care,” said Shay O’Mara, MD, OhioHealth VP of Surgery. “Having this kind of care so easily accessible to those in and around Pickerington will make a huge difference in their care, where minutes truly matter.”

Level III trauma centers provide 24-hour immediate coverage by emergency medicine physicians and have general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and anesthesiologists available.

Other key facts about the project:

• More than 500 associates will work in the hospital
• It will contain 220,000 total square feet made up of 205,000 square feet for the hospital and 5,000 square feet for cancer/infusion
• Construction is planned to start in fall 2021, with a projected opening date of late 2023.
• 60 total beds, including dedicated ICU, medical surgical beds and post-partum beds)
• Six operating rooms
• Two C-section operating rooms
• Shell space for future growth based on community need

OhioHealth plans to keep current services on the campus in operation for the duration of the construction, including the Pickerington Emergency Care Center, which has become one of the busiest freestanding emergency departments in the OhioHealth system