At A Glance

August 2012: Construction set to begin on fifth floor of Support Services Building to house Graduate Medical Education Department
September 2012: Kaweah Delta wound center complete; helipad groundbreaking scheduled; construction begins on Sequoia Medical Center on West Campus
July 2013: Residency training set to begin for physicians in Kaweah Delta’s first Graduate Medical Education programs: Family medicine and emergency medicine.
August 2013: Estimated completion of Kaweah Delta Medical Center Helipad
2014: Psychiatry Residency Program Graduate Medical Education begin
2015: General Surgery and Transitional Year Graduate Medical Education Programs set to begin.

We’re growing! In recent years, Kaweah Delta has provided an increasingly complex level of services to record numbers of inpatient, outpatient and Emergency Department visitors. Surgical, medical, cardiology, oncology and Emergency Department services at the downtown campus have grown significantly because of increased population and the closure of several smaller area hospitals. Here’s a look at how we are growing to better serve our community in the future.

Acequia Wing
In the near future, we will complete the fifth and sixth floors of the Acequia Wing to better serve our patients. The Acequia Wing, completed in 2009, already houses a regional heart center, expanded maternity, emergency and cardiac services.

Helipad
In an effort to save critically-injured patients by getting them care in the first 60 minutes of their injury, construction will begin in September 2012 on a helipad at Kaweah Delta. By spring of 2013, our helipad will be operational and ready for the rapid arrival and transfer of patients to and from Kaweah Delta. The bottom line is: Emergency care will be improved and lives will be saved by having a helipad at our Medical Center.

Graduate Medical Education
In an effort to alleviate what has been a very real physician shortage in our County, Kaweah Delta is now fully accredited as a teaching hospital.  In August, we will begin construction on the area that will house the program’s faculty and residents in Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine when they arrive in July 2013. In 2014 and 2015, we will begin our Psychiatry and General Surgery residencies.  When fully developed, these programs will train 79 physicians on an ongoing basis - up to 50% of whom we expect will remain in the community following completion of their residency.

Wound Center
To better serve the high number of diabetics in our area and others whose wounds heal slowly, in July we are installing two hyperbaric oxygen chambers to complete our comprehensive wound care center. In September, this center will open at the rehabilitation hospital on our West campus bringing to Tulare County its first wound care center providing hyperbaric oxygen chambers.  This center will give our physicians powerful new tools to manage wounds and prevent unnecessary amputations which are an increasing problem in the Central Valley.  

Sequoia Medical Building
In September 2012, construction of a medical office building for orthopedics, vascular surgery, and general surgery including therapy services and a second Sequoia Prompt Care Center will be under construction. This building, on the corner of Akers and Cypress in Visalia, completes our West campus. Adjacent to the Sequoia Surgery Center and our rehabilitation hospital provides an ideal setting for both patient and physician convenience.  

30 Year Plan
Here’s a look at how Kaweah Delta plans to grow by 2030 in downtown Visalia in order to meet state seismic safety requirements and continue to provide healthcare services to our growing community.