Cooper Inexperienced Mercy Well being broke floor on a brand new constructing to deal with its scientific operations Monday, Jan. 9. Will probably be constructed on the positioning of the previous Cooper Inexperienced parking deck, which was demolished in 2022.

Underneath an settlement between the Jefferson County Fee and the UAB Well being System, the Cooper Inexperienced Mercy Well being Providers Authority was created in April 2020 to handle Cooper Inexperienced. The brand new and improved constructing will exchange the present scientific constructing, which dates to the early Seventies. The present constructing is dear to keep up and is now not suited to the environment friendly supply of contemporary ambulatory well being care, mentioned David Randall, chief technique officer for the UAB Well being System and board president and CEO of the Cooper Inexperienced Mercy Well being Providers Authority.

The brand new Cooper Inexperienced Mercy Well being constructing shall be 5 tales tall and 211,000 sq. toes. Total estimated value is $120 million, and completion is predicted in early 2025. Cooper Inexperienced Mercy Well being will proceed to offer scientific companies within the present constructing till the brand new constructing opens.

“This new facility will improve our means to supply high-quality well being look after Cooper Inexperienced sufferers,” Randall mentioned. “This primary-class constructing marks a brand new chapter in well being care supply, offering higher entry, higher care and higher outcomes for the residents of Jefferson County.”

Cooper Inexperienced was referred to as Mercy Hospital when it opened in 1972 as a 319-bed acute care hospital, owned by Jefferson County and offering medical companies to all residents of the county no matter their means to pay. In 1975, it was renamed to honor former Birmingham Mayor Cooper Inexperienced. Cooper Inexperienced Mercy Well being is now an affiliate of the UAB Well being System.

It’s a full-service ambulatory care facility that features main and specialty care clinics, pressing care, bodily, occupational and speech remedy, laboratory companies, imaging and pharmacy.

“The imaginative and prescient of the Jefferson County Fee for the betterment of Cooper Inexperienced operations is coming to fruition,” mentioned Cal Markert, Jefferson County supervisor. “Cooper Inexperienced has a protracted historical past of service to Jefferson County, and this world-class facility will lead us into the way forward for well being look after our residents in want. We’re happy we may collaborate with the UAB Well being System on this undertaking that may guarantee our residents the well being care they deserve for years to come back.”

“The brand new constructing would be the centerpiece of our dedication to service, however the coronary heart and soul of Cooper Inexperienced will proceed to be the excellent, devoted workers our sufferers know and belief,” mentioned Dr. Raegan Durant, medical director for Cooper Inexperienced. “The constructing is designed with the affected person in thoughts, so our companies shall be much more patient-centered than what we’ve got been capable of present beforehand. This is a crucial day for well being care in Jefferson County.”

Sufferers will obtain state-of-the-art medical care. (Getty Photos)

The brand new constructing will function a predominantly glass entrance for its exterior façade, with a glass curtain wall and aluminum-composite steel panels.

Affected person drop-off shall be on the primary flooring, together with pressing care, pharmacy, imaging, worker companies and a service/loading space. The second flooring will function administrative workplaces, a convention heart, laboratory services and outpatient bodily remedy house.

The primary scientific companies shall be on the third flooring, together with main care, specialty care, ophthalmology and behavioral well being. The oncology clinic, together with companions akin to Cahaba Dental, will occupy the fourth flooring, which can embody further leased clinic house. The fifth flooring shall be for growth.

Different facilities embody an expanded rehabilitation suite, which can function a lined out of doors part for creating out of doors expertise akin to navigating curbs and totally different floor surfaces.

A separate phlebotomy and injection clinic will streamline laboratory visits and enhance the method of vaccinations. The clinic areas have been designed to assist team-based, multidisciplinary care, making clinic visits extra centralized for the consolation of the sufferers.

The ability will incorporate pure mild all through the constructing in stairwells and ready areas. Oncology infusion suites will function home windows in every therapy room.

The brand new constructing may have a present store, and meals service choices are being explored. It’ll home skilled and group companies along with Cahaba Dental, together with the Restoration Useful resource Disaster Heart, UAB Group Psychiatry and the UAB Faculty of Nursing PATH clinic.

The final contractor on the undertaking is Brasfield & Gorrie. The architect is Gresham Smith.

This story initially appeared on the UAB Information web site.