Good morning. My name is Don Malone.
I'm president of the Ohio Hospitals
and Family Health Centers for the Cleveland Clinic.
Thank you for joining us
for the Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital groundbreaking.
I'd like to extend a warm welcome
to those joining us virtually,
including government and community leaders,
members of the media, donors,
and our Cleveland Clinic Board members,
leadership and caregivers.
We are excited to mark this occasion
and bring Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital
to Lake County and the surrounding communities
in early 2023.
Mentor Hospital will be Cleveland Clinic's
first hospital in Lake County.
It will be a state-of-the-art facility
providing comprehensive care closer to home.
The hospital will expand our existing presence,
caring for patients in Lake County,
Northern Geauga County and the surrounding communities.
Mentor Hospital will be managed
by Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital,
allowing for seamless access and staffing
between the facilities.
Currently, Cleveland Clinic has eight care locations
in Lake County together with hospitals,
family health centers,
and medical office buildings.
Cleveland Clinic provides a full spectrum
and continuum of care in the area,
along with the tertiary and quaternary support
of our entire Cleveland Clinic health system.
Mentor Hospital will be part of this system
that includes 13 Ohio hospitals,
and more than 200 outpatient locations.
Operating as a system means caregivers and hospitals
learn from one another and share our best practices.
It means that patients have access
to a full breadth of services and specialties.
We bring this strength and the resources
of our large health system to every community we serve
at the Cleveland Clinic.
Mentor Hospital will have 34 inpatient rooms,
at least 22 outpatient rooms,
and 19 emergency room bays.
Its size and design is intentional.
It will allow us to be nimble and change
based on the needs of the community.
For example, rooms are designed to pivot
from inpatient to outpatient or vice versa
as the community grows or health needs change.
We will have the ability to expand this campus
if the needs arise.
When we open,
we will focus on digestive diseases, and general surgery,
urology, heart and vascular care,
orthopaedics and pulmonary care.
We will also have full lab and imaging services available.
The new Mentor Hospital will be well-positioned
to seamlessly direct patients to the right services
based on their needs.
For instance, to Hillcrest, main campus,
or other Clinic hospitals for higher acuity care.
Mentor Hospital will take care of patients
who are more likely to have shorter stays in the hospital
with follow-up care at home.
These Mentor Hospital plans are guided
by our evaluation of the community's health needs
and emerging patient preferences.
This includes a desire to seek care closer to home,
or even at home.
Our patients' experience and wellbeing is what drives us.
Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital
offers us more possibilities to touch patient lives
and deliver the safe, exceptional,
and compassionate care that we are trusted to provide.
Now, I would like to welcome Dr. Tom Mihaljevic,
president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic
to speak more about our vision for Mentor Hospital.
Tom.
Thank you, Don.
Good morning and thank you to our partners,
friends and colleagues for joining us today.
This is truly a milestone in Cleveland Clinic's care
for Lake County and surrounding areas.
We've been here to serve this community for many years.
We've been planning this hospital for quite some time.
And today we're proud to announce our intention
to start the construction.
Mentor Hospital groundbreaking comes
at a very, very unique time for Cleveland Clinic
because we are celebrating our centennial year.
We're also navigating, as all of us are,
a pandemic that challenges our entire community.
Both our history and these present times remind us
that access to healthcare has become essential in our lives.
As we look ahead, we are guided by our mission,
caring for life, researching for health,
educating those who serve.
Mentor Hospital plays an important role
in fulfilling our mission in Ohio.
The hospital will anchor Cleveland Clinic's care
in this community and will be truly integrated
in a broader healthcare system of Cleveland Clinic.
Our guiding principles for Mentor Hospital
is to touch lives with the right type of the care
at the right place at the right time.
We're therefore introducing a new concept
for a flexible hospital,
which is based on our community's needs.
We are very deliberate in offering services
that keep people well
and provide care that is much closer to home.
Caring for life also means caring beyond the hospital walls.
As a part of our investment in Lake County,
we are adding primary care providers
in the Chardon and Concord locations,
and we will serve all of our patients
as their partners in health.
We do believe that this hospital, Mentor Hospital,
will be the model for the future of healthcare delivery.
It is designed to be innovative, flexible, and efficient,
and at Cleveland Clinic Hospital,
here we will deliver the same high quality care
and experience as we do at every location
and this is our promise.
We're honored by this opportunity
to shape the future of health care in Lake County
and we look forward to earning your trust.
I would like now to welcome Ken Filipiak,
Mentor City Manager,
who has been a strong partner to us, Ken.
Thank you and good morning.
There are many people who contributed much
to making this day a reality who are joining us remotely,
and we welcome them.
First and foremost are the members
of the Mentor City Council
who have supported each step of this project over the years.
They join me in anticipation
and appreciation that this day has finally arrived
and we offer to you, Dr. Mihaljevic,
and the entire Cleveland Clinic family,
a very warm welcome on behalf of our residents.
The Cleveland Clinic name is synonymous
with the world's highest quality health care.
I can tell you this firsthand
because our city has a very active
international business recruiting program.
And the first mention of the Clinic's name opens doors
and lends credibility to our efforts through association.
How fortunate we are in our little corner of the world
here in Northeast Ohio to have access to such care.
The Cleveland Clinic operates the world's
only true global healthcare system,
caring for patients on three continents
in places like Abu Dhabi, London and Toronto
and soon Mentor, Ohio.
We are so proud to add the city of Mentor's name
to this worldwide network of hospitals.
Proving once again,
that the Cleveland Clinic's commitment
to the people of this region is unwavering.
Our city's growing partnership with the Cleveland Clinic
will do much to meet the needs of our city and Lake County
with the construction of its newest hospital
on these grounds.
In addition to bringing some of the finest specialty care
to our doorstep,
our residents will enjoy the region's
best emergency care services
at the first hospital within our borders.
This will save precious time for those in distress
and will greatly reduce the turnaround time
for our emergency service providers,
making them more available to our residents.
And of course, the construction of this beautiful hospital
will mean tens of millions of dollars of investment
and hundreds of new jobs.
We are grateful that the Clinic
has shown the confidence in our community
and to this market to make an investment of this magnitude,
even as we contend with the lingering effects
of the pandemic.
Projects like this are transformative for communities,
and we have no doubt this project will have a major impact
on community health, job opportunities, investment,
extended learning opportunities,
and so much more in our city.
So let us move forward together
as we break ground on the Cleveland Clinic
Mentor Hospital campus,
with a hope that this partnership
leads to many, many years of life preserving care,
enhanced quality of life,
innovation and goodwill.
Thank you.
And with that, we will move over
and break ground on Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital.
I'd like to invite up Dr. Rick Parker,
who is President of Hillcrest Hospital
and Dr. Alice Kim who's Medical Director
of Medical Operations for Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Kim, Dr. Parker,
please join Dr. Mihaljevic and Mr. Filipiak.
Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thanks.
Let's break ground, 1, 2, 3.
And with that, ground is broken
on the new Cleveland Clinic Mentor Hospital.
We look forward to bringing
high quality Cleveland Clinic care to Lake County.
Want to thank everyone for joining us this morning.
Be safe, stay well.