IS & RESO have been critical to the opening of Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital (CHHH), which officially “went live” at 7:00 a.m. (Mountain Time) on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. Transfer of existing patients from Lea Regional began late morning and successfully concluded early in the afternoon that day. Lea Regional, which was acquired from Covenant in January 2021, will now be closed for all services, awaiting final disposition or sale.
This facility is critical for supporting the community in this remote part of far-southeastern New Mexico and also supporting Covenant Health facilities in Lubbock, who routinely see 20+ percent of patients traveling from this area to receive their care over the state border.
“After years of planning and countless hours of dedicated work from many, we’re excited and humbled to be able to serve the community of Hobbs in this brand new state of the art building,” says Andrew Haslam, VP, RESO Central Division.
The actual construction phase of the new hospital broke ground on January 4, 2021, and took 20 months to complete.
RESO and IS teams worked very closely together to ensure that the new hospital opened on time and was ready to accept patients, including creating a floor-by-floor plan that allowed IS to come in right behind RESO to install the IT equipment. This even involved IS moving battery UPSs around with laptops to allow for an Epic Technical Dress rehearsal in areas that did not have yet have power.
Covenant Hospital Hobbs will provide a uniquely personalized health care experience to the community of this part of New Mexico, offering a broad range of medical, surgical, emergency, and birthing services, as well as the amenities one would generally expect from a state-of-the-art community healthcare facility.
Equipped with the latest clinical and diagnostic equipment and staffed by Covenant Health staff and medical professionals, CHHH has been tailored to meet the needs of today’s patients, their family members, and guests.
RESO is excited about the features incorporated into the design and construction of this state-of-the-art facility, including:
- 60 In-Patient Rooms, consisting of:
- 44 Standard Med-Surg Rooms
- 8 ICU Suites
- 8 LDRP Suites
- Surgical Suite featuring:
- 4 Operating Theatres
- 1 C-Section Room
- 1 Procedure Room
- 7 Pre-Op Bays
- 9 PACU Bays
- Women’s Health Center providing:
- Bone Density Scans
- Ultrasounds
- Mammography
- Emergency Room complete with fast track bays
- Radiology Suite including:
- MRI
- CT-Scan
- 2 Digital X-Rays
- High Complexity Lab
- USP800 Compliant Compounding Pharmacy
- Chapel
- Helipad
Two babies have already been delivered at the new hospital, with one more on the way. “The best thing ever is hearing that first lullaby come through the halls of a new hospital. It’s a beautiful reminder of why we do what we do,” shares one of the project managers on the IS MAC team.
There are always interesting stories from any major opening of this scale, and CHHH was no exception. RESO and IS teams were on the scene within the first two hours of opening when one of the first patients was flown into the ER via life flight. Then, at 7:00 p.m. the night of the opening, security staff noticed the transformer on the outside of the hospital starting to overheat, causing smoke. The fire department was called and all power was immediately turned off. UPS and generator backup kicked in and all critical systems stayed active with no impact to patient safety. Power was not restored by the City of Hobbs until 2:30 a.m., but all backup power systems performed perfectly.
Congratulations to the Central Division RESO team and the many teams involved.
Special thank you from RESO to our design, planning, and construction partners:
- Hoar Construction – General Contractor
- E4h Architecture – Architect
- Synergis Development – Developer/Owner Representative
- The Stahl Companies – Project Management/Transition Planning
More info
Curious about some of the unique construction challenges posed by this remote site? Read “Hospital Stuck Between Hard Rock, Remote Location” (ENRSouthwest)
See local media coverage of the September 8 ceremonial ribbon cutting ahead of the September 28 opening for patients (KJTV Fox34)