Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital
breaks ground on $12 million renovation
and expansion project

August 1, 2007 --

With the ultimate goal of providing expanded and upgraded medical services to residents of the Santa Ynez Valley, ground was broken August 1 at the site of new construction for Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital. Serving the community since 1964, the well-loved facility on Viborg Road in Solvang will now undergo a $12 million upgrade to be completed over the next two years.

In addition to renovating and seismically upgrading existing buildings, the plan calls for 10,000 square feet of construction that will house a new medical-surgical unit and an updated radiology and imaging suite with a new 16-slice CT scanner for faster and more accurate imaging. Significant renovation and expansion will also take place in the emergency department, surgery suite, laboratory and front lobby.

Additional features include individual temperature control and enhanced comfort in each of the new patient rooms, landscaping improvements that incorporate a healing garden, courtyards and a soothing water element, and a number of essential design improvements required by the State or the City of Solvang.

Assuming the critical fundraising necessary to support these important upgrades to the hospital, the SYVCH Foundation has committed to a $7 million campaign goal. Already, community generosity has raised $5 million. The remaining $5 million will come from Cottage Health System, the parent organization of the three not-for-profit hospitals in Santa Ynez Valley, Goleta and Santa Barbara.

Tresha Sell, president of the SYVCH Foundation and co-chair of the Building Campaign, expressed confidence in the expanded fundraising goal. “We have been tremendously encouraged in this campaign by the early generosity of Valley residents,” she said. “There is a definite sense of pride and importance attached to having our own hospital here in the community. These improvements will make it an even finer facility and will allow us to receive much of the medical care we need right here close to home.”

The 18-month expansion and retrofitting project, approved this past spring by the  Solvang Planning Commission, will be the first to be completed among the three Cottage facilities in Santa Ynez Valley, Goleta and Santa Barbara. All three must undergo seismic upgrading to meet new State-mandated requirements set for all acute-care hospitals. No local, state or federal funding is available.

Last year, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital provided more than 30,000 laboratory, radiology and other outpatient procedures for local residents, treated 6,226 visitors in its emergency department, and discharged 310 inpatients.

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