Cherokee Nation Breaks Ground On New Hospital

The Cherokee Nation broke ground Thursday on a $400 million hospital complex to replace the current Hastings Hospital.

The new hospital will be built on the East end of an outpatient clinic not far from the old hospital, and the OSU Medical School.

Construction will take more than two years. The old building will be renovated to support Behavioral Health Services.

Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr said the funding, through the American Rescue Plan, was the largest single investment in Cherokee healthcare, ever.

“It will allow us to expand services and fuel us into the future as far as capabilities for healthcare,” Cherokee Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said.

The tribe has 2,500 employees working in healthcare. With the new facility, they will be able to expand services and training opportunities.

"We'll go from 56 beds to approximately 125 beds, so we'll increase the number of people we're able to keep, close to home and the services that surround them," Dr. Stephen Jones, the Executive Director of Health Services, said.

He said the new Hastings Hospital will have a catheterization lab, neonatal intensive care, an upgraded trauma unit, and a helipad.

The new hospital will take more than two years to build, and when it's done the old hospital will be converted into a behavioral health clinic.