University of Utah Health Center comes to South Jordan

The University of Utah opened its largest off-campus health care center in South Jordan on Jan. 3.

A number of services are offered at the health center including care for people from newborn to elderly.

Departments in the three-story building include Behavioral Health, Cardiology, Dermatology, Ear Nose and Throat, Family Medicine, Gastroenterology and Endoscopy, the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Internal Medicine, a laboratory, the Moran Eye center, Nephrology, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Occupational Medicine, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, a pharmacy, Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Pulmonary Medicine, Radiology, Reproductive Medicine, a surgical unit, Sleep Medicine, Sports Medicine and Urology.

A grand piano sits in the middle of an open atrium in this one-of-a-kind facility and a member of the health care staff meets the patient as he or she enters the 208.000-square-foot building.

Dee Redd, guest relations specialist, is one of the greeters.

“A patient simply swipes his or her identification card in here to check in,” Redd said, pointing to one of the monitors on the first floor. “A person can even print out a receipt.”

Self-check in is only one of the modern technologies the center offers. The facility includes a number of up to date services, including a CT scanner that uses less radiation than any other in the state and unique examination rooms with dual-feed cabinets, where supplies can be re-stocked and trash removed from outside the room without disrupting the patient.

The green-building strategy makes it environmentally friendly. Ninety percent of waste materials were recycled during the construction of the building. The exterior helps retain a comfortable temperature inside by keeping out cold in the winter and heat in the summer. The new health center uses energy efficient power and materials are bought locally whenever possible.

The building is adjacent to the Trax station in Daybreak, where people can use mass transit, thereby lowering carbon emissions by avoiding use of individual vehicles to get there.

A heliport is located outside the emergency department and it takes only16 minutes for AirMed to go from the South Jordan campus to the University of Utah.

Each floor has a conference room with the largest on the first floor, which is available to the community for banquets, seminars and educational training.

Setting up appointments for all the nine University of Utah Medical locations, comes through the call center located in the basement of the South Jordan facility.

And all this is only the beginning.

“It [the health care facility] lies on 65 acres with 50 acres left to develop,” Curtis Newman, director of Information Services, said. “Additional buildings in the future will include a hospital and other professional and specialty services.”

There is no set time line but “within the next 10 years is swirling around,” Newman said. The currently undeveloped land is north of the Trax station.

The health care center will employ more than 400 University of Utah Health care providers when it’s at full capacity. Currently, there are nearly 50 health care providers at the facility.

The University of Utah Health Care Center is located at 5126 West Daybreak Parkway.