By Meredith Gardner
meredith.gardner@theindependent.com

Those new doctors will include specialists in pulmonology, cardiology and nephrology.

Gloor made the announcement at a lunchtime Rotary Club meeting presentation about the patient tower's design and aesthetics.

"That's an incredible growth in one year in physicians coming to the city," he said.

Grand Island's physician base is at nearly 100 doctors, meaning the upcoming surge will be a more than 10 percent increase, he said.

The tower, which is considered the tallest occupied building between Lincoln and Denver, serves as a "big billboard" for the hospital, as it can be seen by many who travel via Grand Island's highways and main thoroughfares, Gloor said.

It also helps adequately advertise how large Grand Island's medical community has become, Gloor said something the older, ranch-style hospital building was not able to do so effectively.

"We looked like a long-term care facility," Gloor said. "Once we built the tower ... it now looked like the big medical community Grand Island is."

About a month after the patient tower addition was completed, young physicians whom St. Francis had tried to recruit began calling to express their interest in Grand Island.

Now, some have decided to make a move here.

Also during the presentation, Gloor talked about the patient tower's focus on families and a "healing environment." Feedback about the large rooms, aesthetics, quiet atmosphere and amenities has been positive so far, he said, from both patients and hospital staff.

The new patient rooms are much larger than the old ones, making time in the hospital more pleasant for families and making patient care more efficient for employees.

With its attractive design and state-of-the-art features, the St. Francis patient tower addition should help draw in new patients and medical professionals well into the future, Gloor said.

"I think the tower played a role in helping cement those young practitioners to come to Grand Island," he said.