Round Rio Rancho

The Sandoval Regional Medical Center (SRMC) held a grand opening and ribbon cutting celebration for the public the weekend of July 8 and 9, 2012. On Saturday, a dozen dignitaries spoke to the assembled crowd including Senator Jeff Bingaman, facility President and CEO Kevin Rogols, other hospital administrators, county officials, and representatives of local pueblos. Tom Swisstack, the Mayor of Rio Rancho also spoke, but what was interesting was the number of speakers who lauded the Mayor for his leadership about ten years ago (when he was a State Representative) which resulted in the new facility eventually being built in Rio Rancho.

The new hospital comprises about 200,000 square feet, with 72 beds for inpatient care, 48 beds for medical and surgical care, a 12 bed ICU, 12 beds for senior behavioral health and a 13 bed emergency room. The hospital is part of University of New Mexico Hospital, and will be the only teaching hospital in the county. The equipment is state of the art, including a surgical robot, imaging equipment capable of producing very fine detail, talking beds (which speak a couple dozen languages) and so much more.

When the project was begun, Sandoval County was the largest county in the western United States without a hospital. Presbyterian Rust Medical Center opened just a few months earlier a few miles south (and also in Rio Rancho), so now there are two hospitals where not long ago there were none.

Rio Rancho New Mexico’s first full service hospital is open! Presbyterian Rust Medical Center is holding a huge grand opening party for the community Saturday October 22nd, but they have already performed over 20 surgeries, have one patient recovering in their new 68 bed patient tower, and the city’s first hospital born baby was delivered there on Wednesday. We were fortunate  enough to attend a special pre-opening event co-hosted by the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce and received the grand tour. The building is stupendous, with lots of natural light throughout, large comfortable patient rooms with a convertible couch/bed for family stay overs, and enough high tech to make NASA  jealous.

Emergency room services were formerly handled at a Presbyterian office at High Resort Blvd and Hwy 528, but they have now been transferred to the new hospital.  There’s even a helipad on the grounds. Services to be offered at the new facility include:

• Inpatient Services
  • Mother-Baby Care
  • Critical Care
  • Neonatal Intensive Care
  • Orthopedic
  • Surgery and General Medical
• Outpatient Services
  • Emergency Care
  • Full Imaging Services
  • Surgical Services
  • CVL/Interventional Radiology lab