Rideout Memorial Hospital's expansion kicks off in Marysville

With the theme song from, "2001: A Space Odyssey" as accompaniment, Fremont-Rideout Health Group executives and board members performed a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for Rideout Memorial Hospital's much anticipated $225 million expansion project.

It will add about 215,000 square feet to the facility, including a six-story medical tower and helicopter landing pad on the roof.

A much-needed expansion to the hospital's emergency room facility is also in the works.

About 55,000 patients visited Rideout's emergency room last year; the facility was designed to handle only 20,000, according to FRHG's CEO Terri Hamilton.

The celebration brought out corporate and political leaders from across the region, including an appearance by U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, who called the Marysville hospital "a centerpiece of a large community of people who care for each other."

An informational video focused on the history of the nonprofit hospital, founded in 1907, named for its founders, the husband and wife team of Phebe Abbott and Norman Dunning Rideout.

The Rideout name was ubiquitous throughout Northern California in the 19th century because of the family's financial interests in banking, railroads and shipping.

Hamilton spoke about her own recent personal experience with the hospital's heart center, which opened in 2002.

Her husband, she said, "is alive because not once but twice, our heart center team saved his life."

Since the center's opening, Hamilton said, its doctors have, to date, performed 1,811 open heart surgeries.

The hospital group also broke ground last year on an expansion of its cancer center, which also opened in 2002.

Rideout represents the only level III trauma center between Sacramento and Chico. Funding for the construction, which comes through a $110 million bond issue and private donations, is expected to be completed in late 2014.

CONTACT Nancy Pasternack at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4781. Find her on Facebook at /ADnpasternack or on Twitter at @ADnpasternack.