North Valley Hospital in Whitefish broke ground last week on a fourth operating suite needed to keep pace with a surgery volume that has increased 22 percent over the past four years.

Located on the west side of the hospital, the new suite will accommodate inpatient and outpatient surgeries and will be completed by this fall. 

The expansion, in excess of $1 million, will be paid for with hospital cash reserves, not additional debt or donations, according to Catherine Todd, senior director of business development and community relations.

The 1,461-square-foot expansion includes the new surgical suite and support area plus an upper story for a new air handler dedicated to the surgery department. The new surgical suite will match the existing three suites and all suites can accommodate North Valley’s entire surgical service line, including da Vinci robotic surgery requirements.

North Valley will use the same architect, builder and project superintendent for the expansion as it did for the hospital that was completed in 2007, including Johnson, Johnson, Crabtree Architects; Swank Enterprises as the general contractor; and Jeff Halsey as project superintendent.

Hospital Chief Executive Officer Jason Spring said the expansion will prepare North Valley for continued growth in surgery cases while continuing to maintain operating room availability for emergency procedures.

Another planned expansion project will be enlarging The Birth Center. The hospital foundation is currently in the “silent phase” of a multimillion-dollar capital campaign to raise money for the expansion.

When the hospital was built it was planned for 250 births per year, but the annual number of births has increased to almost 500.