North Valley Hospital will break ground for its new hospital on May 12.

Administrator Craig Aasved announced the date Tuesday at a planning meeting for a community celebration. Carol Blake, head of community relations, said the Whitefish and Columbia Falls chambers of commerce are assisting with the event.

"We're going to do a real party," Blake said. "This hospital is for the community."

Scheduled from 1 to 6 p.m. May 12, the ground-breaking festivities will include food and other entertainment at the hospital site at the intersection of U.S. 93 and Montana 40.

"There will be something for all ages," Blake said.

She said the celebration also ties into the 100-year anniversary of the first hospital in Whitefish.

The ground breaking will mark the successful conclusion of several years of planning and fund-raising to replace North Valley Hospital's three-decades-old building.

Hospital officials expect construction to take from 16 to 18 months. Blake said that would put completion in December 2006 or early 2007.

Blake said architects have completed 99 percent of the plans and drawings for the 72,000-square-foot, single-level facility. The design integrates the Planetree philosophy adopted by the board of directors in 2002.

Planetree hospitals consider the patient's point of view and emphasize an environment which heals mind, body and spirit.

North Valley Hospital's $26 million project reflects much of that philosophy.

The block concept presented last summer included 28 beds with 12 to 14 semiprivate and the rest private rooms. It included six gardens and home-like appointments such as French doors leading out to the garden.

Each room includes a long, built-in bench seat that provides more room than normally available for visits from family and friends. The rooms and gardens line the east-facing side of the new hospital for views of Glacier National Park.

North Valley's new hospital will feature an expanded surgery area, separate inpatient and outpatient areas and streamlined entry for emergency vehicles, along with the latest medical technology.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.