VacaValley medical, wellness center breaks ground
The official groundbreaking ceremony on April 7 launched a $58 million investment in a state-of-the-art wellness center on the NorthBay VacaValley Hospital campus in Vacaville.
“This is a long-awaited day for all of us at NorthBay Healthcare, probably for the city of Vacaville, and surely for many of our physicians, nurses, support staff, our managers and our Boards of Directors,” said NorthBay President and CEO Gary Passama. “This is an exciting project, something we knew the community very much needed.”
Opening in mid-2016, the 110,000-square-foot building will feature a medical fitness center and become the new home of the NorthBay Cancer Center, which is currently located in Fairfield. The three-story medical office building will also include an outpatient diagnostic imaging center, diabetes and endocrinology, orthopedics, rehabilitation services and cardiac rehabilitation.
The design and functionality of the center will put the patient first, according to Elnora Cameron, president of NorthBay Health Advantage, a NorthBay-affiliated division that oversees facilities construction.
“How we construct these buildings is all about changing the way we deliver care to our patients,” Cameron said. “It’s about giving patients an experience we’ve all been waiting for in healthcare: less waiting, promptly returned phone calls, expedited pharmacy refills and lots of comforting and healing sunlight in the public spaces and in the clinical treatment areas.”
The west end of the building will be dedicated to the county’s first medical fitness center. It features a 56,000-square-foot aquatic center with a lap pool, general purpose pool, warm water therapy pool and a whirlpool.
While it will have many of the features of a health club – exercise equipment, indoor running track, pools and spas – it will have specialized therapy equipment for patients, and the staff will be trained and work collaboratively with physicians and specialists.
The fitness center also includes two group exercise rooms, a Queenax fitness system, dedicated Pilates and cycling rooms, a large cardio area, and strength training and personal training areas.
While physicians can prescribe therapy at the medical fitness center, membership plans will also be available to the general community.
The building is a partnership between NexCore Group and NorthBay Healthcare. Swinerton Builders of Sacramento is the general contractor.
The construction site formerly held the NorthBay Adult Day Center, which moved to a modern facility on VacaValley Parkway earlier this year. The old building was demolished in March.
