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Shriners Break Ground on New Hospital Site

A well-established Lexington medical facility has started the process of relocating.

The Shriners broke ground Monday on a new children’s hospital near the University of Kentucky.   The building will replace the group’s current hospital on Richmond Road, which dates back to the 1950s.  Administrator Tony Lewgood says the facility will focus more heavily on outpatient care, matching a trend that is being seen nationwide. 

"We’ll have two operating rooms to do outpatient surgeries.  If inpatient admission in surgery is needed, the faculty, which are the same physicians, we share the pediatric orthopedists that are in town.  They will do that procedure at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, a full service children’s hospital with pediatric anesthesia and the full complement of pediatric services," he said. 

He added that as part of the collaboration with the Univesity of Kentucky, the new hospital will lease its top two floors to University of Kentucky Ophthalmology. 

Notable speakers at the ceremonies included Dale Stauss, Imperial Potentate of Shriners International, and Dr. Michael Karpf, Executive Vice President of UK Health Care.  Also present was Perry Cate Foster, a 14-year old patient who was treated by the Shriners for severe kidney dysplasia.  Now serving as a patient ambassador, she joined the other speakers in officially breaking ground for the new facility, which is expected to open in May of 2017.

Chase Cavanaugh first got on the air as a volunteer reader for Central Kentucky Radio Eye, a local news service for the visually impaired. He began reporting for WUKY in February 2012, after receiving his Master’s degree from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.
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