Press Release

A Message from Jim Hinton, President and CEO, Presbyterian Healthcare Services
JULY 31, 2009

I wanted to share some good news with you today. After a seven-month delay due to the uncertain economy, Presbyterian is once again going forward with the construction of the Presbyterian Rio Rancho Medical Center. As you may know, Presbyterian broke ground on this project nearly a year ago and we delayed construction this past December when the U.S. economy fell dramatically. After several months of deliberation, we believe we have re-designed the Medical Center to meet the needs of Rio Rancho and West Side residents in a way that makes sense in today’s economy. During the last few months, we continued to invest in pre-construction site work and maintained our permits and plans. Because of this, we believe we will open the 66-bed Presbyterian Rio Rancho Medical Center in 2011. The facility will include labor and delivery services, intensive care, operating rooms, cardiac services, MRI and imaging, emergency care and more. Presbyterian will invest $165 million in the construction of the Presbyterian Rio Rancho Medical Center. As a not-for-profit healthcare system, bringing needed healthcare services to communities like Rio Rancho is why we’re here. Although we continue to make difficult business decisions each day during the current economic environment, building this hospital in Rio Rancho is an important part of Presbyterian’s commitment to the communities we serve. We look forward to sharing more information with you as Rio Rancho’s first hospital progresses and as we build New Mexico’s first 21st Century hospital. Thank you for your continued support.