ST. LOUIS (March, 2010) - Forty-six years after Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital was built, hospital officials, dignitaries, HBE employees and members of the community gathered Thursday, March 11, 2010 to celebrate a groundbreaking ceremony for a new facility.

The $103 million hospital project, scheduled to take 24 months to complete, will allow Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital to meet California's new seismic standards by 2013.  "The new Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital is going to be a beautiful facility, but more importantly, it was designed and will be built to meet the needs of the community," said Diane Wisby, the hospital's vice president.

The new facility will have 20 ER beds, the number of surgical suites will increase from four to six, and there will be 44 fully private medical/surgical rooms, eight intensive care rooms, a dedicated endoscopy suite and four hyperbaric oxygen chambers.  Another feature will be what's termed "key adjacencies" - strategic placement of certain types of rooms near services designed to eliminate duplication of testing facilities and unnecessary movement of patients from their rooms.

ABOUT HBE:
HBE is a leading nationwide provider of commercial design-build construction for health care, including replacement hospitals and hospital renovations/additions.  HBE specializes in turnkey, single source design-build project delivery.  The company has completed over one thousand health care projects across the United States, building a national reputation as an integrated organization capable of executing complicated projects on time and within budget.  Headquartered in St. Louis, HBE ranks as one of the largest privately held companies in St. Louis with a staff of over 400 people including architects, engineers and construction experts.  HBE was founded in 1960 by its CEO/Chairman, Fred S. Kummer.  In 2008, HBE Corporation separated its health care design-build business into a private, independent company.