Mercy Medical Center officials hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, Oct. 17 for the hospital’s new emergency department on the east side of Marion.
The new facility is being built at 3701 Katz Dr. off 10th Avenue in Marion, just west of the existing MercyCare Marion clinic.
Mercy officials say the new Marion emergency department location, announced in January 2023, is the result of extensive consumer research and multi-year planning, and comes in response to the changes within the community and the need for more capacity.
Building another off-site emergency location also helps the hospital’s main emergency department in downtown Cedar Rapids, which has seen growth and was facing the prospect of having to expand. The model also allows Mercy to locate services closer to patients for their most emergent needs, rather than expanding on-site at the hospital.
This will be the second off-site, hospital-based extension of Mercy’s emergency department. Mercy’s Hiawatha emergency location, opened in 2020, was the first emergency department in Iowa available outside of a hospital-based setting.
“We continue to see more ER patients than any other provider of emergency services in Linn County, and building on that experience is exciting,” said Dr. Matthew Aucutt, medical director for Mercy Emergency Services. “We are pleased to provide a convenient, high-quality option for life-saving care for residents in and around Marion.”
The new Marion location will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and will offer on-site radiology and lab services.
Like the Mercy Hiawatha emergency department, patients requiring additional hospital intervention will be transferred free of charge to Mercy’s downtown location based on established protocols and in partnership with local ambulance services.
Existing Mercy employees will transfer to the new location, and Mercy also plans to add more staff for the new facility.
Nathan Van Genderen, COO and CFO of Mercy Medical Center, said at the groundbreaking ceremony that the new standalone Marion emergency department is a natural extension of the hospital’s mission.
“About four years ago, we had this idea that we wanted to bring emergency care into some of our suburban communities,” he said. “We started over in Hiawatha, and that’s been an amazing success. The community has embraced it. So when we started looking around and asking where we needed to go next, Marion was clearly a place that we wanted to support.”
Marion Mayor Nick AbouAssaly said expanding options for health care is a critical part of the city’s growth prospects.
“It’s important to us to make sure that people here have access to excellent health care,” Mr. AbouAssaly said. “We’re growing, and that growth is great, but we need to grow in a way that is meaningful, makes sense and that adds value. And part of giving people a great quality of life, which we really pride ourselves on, is access to quality health care.”
Timothy Quinn, president and CEO of Mercy Medical Center, said the new standalone emergency departments in Hiawatha and Marion represent a growing trend in Eastern Iowa health care.
“We looked at this over time and started a whole new model that didn’t exist in our community before, or our state for that matter,” he said. “And it’s been met with overwhelming support by our community. They love the access that our Hiawatha emergency department provides. And we’re looking to do the same thing here, right here off Highway 13 and 151. It’s a great location. It’s responding to what the growing needs of the community are, and frankly, it’s what people want different about health care.”
The new Marion emergency department is scheduled to open late next year.
St. Luke’s Hospital is also planning to open its Marion emergency department at 3301 Armar Drive in Marion next year.
