POST FALLS — The groundbreaking for Prairie Medical Campus attracted hundreds of people on a rainy Tuesday afternoon.

“This campus is going to be a gamechanger for the region,” said Kootenai Health CEO Jamie Smith.

The land that is now gravel and green space at Highway 41 and Prairie Avenue will be home to a 30-acre medical facility. The project is a partnership between Kootenai Health and MultiCare. 

“We have a shared vision and that makes this work,” Smith said.

MultiCare President Florence Chang called the groundbreaking a better vehicle to deliver care to a growing region. 

 “This is a new chapter for MultiCare and Kootenai Health,” Chang said. 

Working together allows both medical systems to create a faster timeline to build out resources than it would on their own, Chang said. 

She pointed out a previous partnership between the medical providers with the delivery of the EPIC system for medical records in 2020.

“Collaboration at this scale between two health systems in an innovative approach,” she said. 

The project encapsulates a 94,840-square-foot medical campus intended to serve long-term community needs.   

Phase One includes a micro hospital with emergency care, imaging and overnight rooms and a three-story office building with a clinic and lab spaces.  

Pediatric needs will also be expanded through MultiCare partnerships.  

The first iteration of the campus is expected to open in 2028. Smith said the site may become even larger than the Coeur d’Alene hospital campus for Kootenai Health.  

“This will soon be the center of where people live, work and play,” he said. 

As a not-for-profit, Kootenai Health doesn’t intend to stop building bricks and mortar for a better-connected comprehensive health care system. Inclusivity in health care needs is something Smith is proud is a large part of Kootenai Health’s mission.  

"We're trying to meet the needs of today, anticipate the needs of tomorrow and grow alongside the community,” Smith said. 

Chang called Prairie Medical Campus “a major step forward’ in health care and noted that the heavy rain could be considered fortuitous for the venture. 

“We’re all enjoying this shower of blessings,” she said. 

    Smith
  

    Hundreds of attendees stayed out of the rain under a tent ahead of the groundbreaking for Prairie Medical Campus on Tuesday afternoon.