Muskogee’s long-awaited new hospital had its ribbon cutting Wednesday.

More than 100 community leaders attended the invitation-only event at Muskogee Community Hospital at the intersection of North Main Street and Harris Road. They were then taken in groups of 10 on a tour of various departments and shown the state-of-the-art medical technology.

MCH is a 101,656-square-foot facility. When construction is finished, it will feature 45 beds, 24 doctors, and 60-65 nurses. When it opens to the public, total staff size will be 150.

One of the people joining a tour was Cindy Rich, sonography clinical coordinator at Bacone College.

“I think this is a very nice benefit for our community,” she said. “Physicians will be able to get digital images quickly. It’s going to be a really good deal for the patients and the physicians, especially if they can see it online.”

After being shown one of the patient rooms, Rich said she was impressed by the extra features.

“My mom had some surgery at St. John’s in Tulsa but this is even better than that,” she said. “I’ve never been to a hospital where they had fold-out beds for family to stay in the room.”

Watch video below.

Guests were shown the air-cleaning system that uses ultraviolet light, antimicrobial floors and bedding materials, faster and more accurate digital systems, and an operating room with touch-screen monitors and LED (light-emitting diode) overhead lights.

The person overseeing operation of the high-tech features is Stephen Jordan of Fort Gibson. Jordan said he has been impressed by the patient-oriented philosophy.

“My main goal is to keep patients and staff as comfortable as I can,” he said. “We’re all automated with computer control. If anything goes wrong, it comes to me and I decide if it’s critical or not.”

Long-time Bartlesville businessman Mark Roberts has been a driving force on the business side of the hospital.

Roberts said services that will be offered include an emergency room, a urologist, a gastroenterologist, a neurosurgeon, pain management, internists, family medicine, ENT (ear, nose and throat) services, and gynecology.

A $5 million annual payroll and $500,000-plus in ad valorem taxes will be part of the economic benefit.