New Budge Clinic is open

Design of what the new Budge Clinic expansion will look like from the west side. 

The new Budge Clinic Building, the most recent and most visible addition to the Logan Regional Hospital campus, is complete and when further work is finished there will be a celebration.

Completion of the entire project is expected by October.

But first things first, says Jana Huffman who is the regional operations officer for Cache Valley Intermountain Healthcare.

“The new building that the public can see now is the first part of our project and now we have moved into a remodel of the existing Budge Clinic, or the North Budge Clinic and Logan Regional Hospital.”

Huffman knows every inch of the new building.

“It’s 110,000 square feet,” she said. “It is four floors plus a basement.

“The first floor is primarily Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, Spine and Podiatry clinics as well as our x-ray areas. The second floor includes primarily Pediatrics and General Surgery clinics. On the third floor is Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. Then the fourth floor is actually hospital space that they are using, which right now is the GI lab and a lot of space for potential future growth.”

Huffman said Intermountain Healthcare’s approach in planning and building new projects is extensive and considers every detail. She said about five years prior to the groundbreaking, planning was underway.

“It included studying online, looking at other innovative ideas and visiting clinics in other places.

“Also, we did a mock-up in a warehouse where we brought in equipment in space and where we had physicians and staff evaluate what would be the most effective way to provide care for patients.”

Among the unique innovations are patient rooms with separate entrances for patient and doctor.

“As we all know, patient privacy is very important . This setup allows us to provide a private entrance into the examination room for the patient. The physician comes into the patient room from a door on the other side of the room, the doctor entering from what we call the ‘care pod’ where the whole care team works, hour-by-hour.”

Why was this expansion undertaken to begin with?

“If you ever visited the existing Budge Clinic you would know the answer to that,” said Huffman. “We were very crowded. We had every square foot taken, including housekeeping closets that we had to convert into offices.

“Also, we wanted to build it on the Logan Regional Hospital campus so that it was easy for people to find and in a convenient spot close to hospital services.”

The old building, referred to now as the “north” Budge Clinic, still contains some providers. There will be additional space for new specialities expected to be added in the Cache Valley so that patients don’t have to travel long distances.

“Some of those might include Nephrology, dealing with kidney function, Endocrinology, dealing with the endocrine system and hormones, and others we are planning for over the next five to 10 years.”

An open house, projected at mid or late-October, will be announced at the end of the construction.

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