REDMOND – Janice Pendroy remembers growing up in Redmond when it was a small town with an even smaller hospital.

Now, the registered nurse at St. Charles Medical Center-Redmond said the $30 million hospital expansion, including a new three-story tower adjacent to the existing hospital, is impacting the whole town.

”It’s exciting,” said Pendroy, who has worked for the Redmond hospital for nine years. ”We currently are in an old unit.”

In those older hospital wings, two patients are required to share a room with only a curtain between their beds. One has access to a window, Pendroy pointed out, the other has nearly no access to natural light.

But the new medical/surgical rooms, painted in soothing shades of purple, green and beige, are entirely private. Each has a view of either Smith Rock on one side of the building or the Cascades on the other. And, each has a daybed for a family member to stay close to the patient at all times.

”These rooms were designed with three zones. There is the family zone, the patient zone and the nursing zone,” said Rick Martin, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Cascade Healthcare Community, parent company of the hospitals in Redmond and Bend. ”A lot of effort was put into accommodating patients and families.”

Expansion of the Redmond hospital has been in the works since the facility merged with St. Charles-Bend in 2001, said Jim Diegel, CEO of Cascade Healthcare. Diegel worked as chief administrator of the Redmond hospital before the merger and has been involved in the Redmond community for more than a decade.

”This has been a long time coming,” Diegel said. ”For Redmond, this is setting a new stage, taking it to the next level.”

Redmond’s expanded facility will open for operations Oct. 9. It is part of Cascade Healthcare’s overall ongoing $128 million expansion project on both campuses and has benefited from a $10 million capital campaign to raise funds from the public. Jeld-Wen, a manufacturer of windows and doors that also owns Eagle Crest Resort, donated $1 million to support the Redmond facility, and the tower is named for that gift.

The expansion includes four new operating rooms that Cascade Healthcare Project Manager Eric Knittel said are ”state of the art.” The equipment in the rooms is anchored to the ceiling rather than the floor for easier convenience for physicians, fewer infection control issues and improved safety for patients.

Outside the surgical suites is a new area for pre- and post-operation patients. And, said Patrick Varga, site administrator for the Redmond hospital, surgical patients will be able to leave the building through a new hallway rather than being wheeled out through the lobby as they were in the old building.

”Patients wanted a lot of these things for their stay,” Varga said, explaining patient input was considered in the design of the facility.

With a total of 48 patient beds in the hospital, the expansion does not actually add room for more patients, Martin explained, but makes it possible for each patient to have a private room. He said the hospital charges the same rate for private and shared rooms.

Because the hospital staff will no longer have to worry about putting patients of the same gender, and with similar maladies, in a shared room, Martin said it is likely that capacity will increase slightly.

”We should have more capacity and a higher satisfaction from a patient standpoint,” he said.

On a clear day, visitors to the third floor will step off the elevators and see a horizon filled with mountains from Mount Bachelor to Mount Hood. They will enter a large waiting area complete with overstuffed chairs and tables, modern-style lamps and picture windows.

The hope, Martin said, is that patients who live in Redmond and its surrounding areas will feel more comfortable seeking services they need first at the Redmond hospital.

”The vision of the system is that the majority of patients that don’t need a highly specialized treatment, like heart care, will be treated in Redmond,” he said. ”We want our medical staff to feel more comfortable and hope the facility will attract new medical providers to the area.”

Eric Sande, executive director of the Redmond Chamber of Commerce, said he can see the value of the hospital as a recruitment tool throughout the business community.

”Quality health care is definitely something in the top of mind when people are looking to move to a new community,” Sande said. ”When they see the building, they are very much impressed.”

open house

An open house will be held for the public to tour the new Jeld-Wen Tower at St. Charles-Redmond from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Tours will begin at the hospital’s new entrance off Kingwood Avenue.