Bassett Healthcare marked the start of a $52 million facilities management plan that will support a new open-heart surgery program, with a different sort of ground breaking ceremony Monday afternoon.

Rather than having officials scoop a ceremonial first shovelful of soil, the hospital raised the first steel I-beam to the top of the building where a new fifth floor will be added. More than 1,500 hospital employees had signed the beam prior to the ceremony on the Jane Forbes Clark terrace.

Dr. William F. Streck, president and CEO of Bassett Healthcare, explained in brief comments that the building had been designed so that another, fifth floor could be added in the future and called the addition "a fitting next step in the evolution of the institution."

The new fifth floor will house an expansion of the region's most complete critical care complex. The Bassett Heart Care Initiative, which brings cardiac surgery and angioplasty to the region, begins in early 2003. Long-term enhancements include technology upgrades and enlargement of patient rooms, additional parking, as well as future plans to improve the flow of traffic and enhance the appearance of the campus grounds, including a pedestrian greenway.

"Our facilities project is very much in line with our philosophy of state-of-the-art care of patients taking place in modern facilities," said Streck. "Hospital patient rooms will be larger with more private rooms. Hospital stays can be stressful for patients and their families and we want to make their stay with Bassett as comfortable as possible.

"For Bassett to be able to meet our patients' healthcare needs tomorrow, we need to make investments today," added Streck. Financing for this capital investment will come form a capital campaign that is also underway to support the project, Bassett's accrued resources and debt financing.

Celebrating its 75th year of continuous service, Bassett Healthcare has evolved from The Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in 1927 to a three-hospital and 20-health center regional healthcare network serving eight counties in Central New York. Bassett's affiliated hospitals admitted 9,171 patients in 2001 and its community health centers completed 460,111 outpatient visits.