Major Blodgett Expansion Set

EAST GRAND RAPIDS — Spectrum Health announced today it plans to invest $98 million in its Blodgett campus, including a proposed new five-story addition that will allow the 284-bed hospital to be converted into all single-patient rooms.

A decade ago, when BlodgettMemorialMedicalCenter and ButterworthHospital merged to form Spectrum Health, the blueprint called for Blodgett to serve as an outpatient facility until it was replaced by a new building to the east. However, with patient volume growing 4 to 6 percent per year and nearby MetroHealthHospital moving to Wyoming in September, the health system has reconsidered.

A source familiar with the plans said the entire hospital, originally built in 1914, will undergo renovation. The emergency department already has seen a $7.5 million update, and Spectrum Health has requested state approval to add a diagnostic cardiac catheterization unit, as well. No beds will be added, but rooms that house multiple patients will become single-patient rooms.

Blodgett will continue to handle bariatric surgery and 70 percent to 80 percent of the joint replacement surgeries performed at Spectrum Health. The goal is to move as many joint replacement procedures as possible to the Blodgett campus.

The Blodgett campus,