Shriners Hospital Could Join UK Medical Complex

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The University of Kentucky is in talks with Shiners Hospitals for Children to relocate its Richmond Road facility to South Limestone.

The new $50 million dollar building would sit adjacent to UK’s new patient bed tower – and feature an ambulatory care center equipped for office visits and outpatient surgery. Wanda Rice with the Shriners says the two organizations already have close ties, with UK employees making up most of the specialist staff at Shriners.

"Many of our children have complex medical conditions as well as the orthopedic condition we're seeing them for, so this puts us in a closer proximity to those other specialists," Rice says.

Shriners would foot the bill for construction and lease 50-thousand square feet back to the university for an ophthalmology clinic. The plan will go before the UK Board of Trustees next week.