Trinity Hospital

MINOT, N.D. • Trinity Health is building a state-of-the-art medical campus in Minot, which will sit on 43 acres, according to Trinity’s Director of Marketing Karim Tripodina.

Tripodina and Randy Schwan, vice president of Trinity’s mission integration, answered a number of questions about the future hospital, saying the “most exciting thing about this project is that it’s about people, not buildings. It’s about fulfilling our mission to preserve and improve the health of the people we serve. ...The project represents our vision and the future of health care excellence for generations, and it’s been thrilling to watch it take shape over the past months.

The 594,000-square-foot hospital and attached 196,000-square-foot medical office building is expected to be complete in 2022.

When did construction begin on the new hospital?

Trinity Health began planning a new health care campus and medical district more than 20 years ago, with the work starting in earnest under the guidance of our CEO, John M. Kutch, in 2009. We purchased land west of the Minot Family YMCA along 37th Avenue Southwest to support that strategy. As planning continued, we sought and received approval from the Ward County Board of Commissioners to issue up to $380 million in Health Care Revenue Bonds in December 2017 to start the next phase.

When is it slated to be finished?

We expect the project to wrap up in 2022, which will be followed by several months of workflow and equipment testing before staff and patients move into the facility – a date has not been targeted specifically for that but will become more readily apparent as the preliminary work gets accomplished. We are not rushing the process, but instead making certain that we have the right blocks in all the right places as we proceed.

Once completed, how large will the hospital be?

The campus will sit on 43 acres with an additional 32 acres directly south for future growth and, once finished, will total 790,000 square feet. This includes a 594,000-square-foot hospital facility and an attached 196,000-square-foot medical office building.

How many patient rooms?

The finished facility will have 168 beds and all private patient rooms. Patients will appreciate that every room is private and designed to maximize natural light for well-being and healing.

What are some of the amenities it will have that stand out? What are some of its features?

The campus will truly be state-of-the-art, offering a wide spectrum of advanced, patient-centered health care services and significant upgrades for patients, visitors, and staff. A six-story hospital tower will offer advanced cardiac, neurosurgical, and orthopedic care, and will include private rooms, state-of-the-art surgical suites, new birthing areas, and an expanded emergency/level II trauma center with four triage, four trauma, and 24 treatment bays. The attached medical office building will house hospital-based specialists and other providers, plus a host of other patient- and family-friendly services and amenities. The site will feature plenty of parking for patients, visitors, and staff.

What prompted the reason to build such a large, state-of-the-art hospital?

The most immediate reasons are that, one, our existing hospital facilities were built around standards of care that have since dramatically changed; and two, the buildings’ infrastructure, such as plumbing, heating, and air conditioning, is not sufficient to support current or future demands. The current main hospital was built in the early 1920s, when the health care delivery model focused on acute, inpatient care. But today’s health care model emphasizes outpatient and ambulatory services with a collaborative continuum of care. The population and geography we serve also continues to expand. Along the way we have evolved with advancements in health care, undergoing 15 phases of building additions and more than 50 major internal renovations at our current site. Despite these efforts, the cumulative effect is still marked by inefficient layouts and aging infrastructure.

This new campus was envisioned and planned collaboratively with Trinity Health’s physicians, employees and leadership, and community input. The resulting design addresses the deficiencies in our older buildings and ensures the future of Minot as a healthcare hub for the region. The new health care campus and medical district will feature modern amenities to improve care quality and patient satisfaction, while providing a better environment for caregivers. The space accommodates more teams in one facility instead of occupying several different buildings across town. Floorplans promote more collaboration, less duplication, and a higher standard of personalized care.

Besides the obvious, in what ways will this benefit the community and the state?

Our new healthcare campus and medical district will allow Trinity Health to accommodate current and future health care needs of the identified health care facilities and infrastructure as the top priorities for the investment of community resources. Minot officials and community partners are also looking forward to this significant improvement to our local landscape. When our workforce grows with new staff and providers moving to the area with their families, other local businesses and organizations will benefit as well.

What are you most excited about with the new hospital?

The most exciting thing about this project is that it’s about people, not buildings. It’s about fulfilling our mission to preserve and improve the health of the people we serve. It also embodies Trinity Health’s commitment to providing the highest quality health care and making more possible for our patients and communities. The project represents our vision and the future of health care excellence for generations, and it’s been thrilling to watch it take shape over the past months.

FARGO, N.D. • Two media production companies are excited about the new opportunities a merger will provide.

Media Productions merged with Super Studio, both Fargo-based companies, in early February. The merger creates an enhanced Super Studio, offering a variety of media solutions to businesses and events.

“We became part of that group for a number of reasons,” said Lee Massey, founder of Media Productions, a video, animation, photography and audio production company. “One was so that we could fulfill some client requests that we were receiving, to do printed materials and more creative work on both audio and video, especially with events, and so it was a great opportunity.”

Media Productions started in the mid-1970s, providing events and media content for clients across the country, and joined the Flint Group in 2000. Super Studio was formed as a graphic design and video production company.

Massey shared his excitement about the merger, saying 2020 is an exciting year for both he and the company he created.

“Media Productions turns 45 this year, and I turned 70, which means that I'm long overdue for retirement,” he said. “So that's what sort of gave us the push to really combine the two organizations, because we've been working hand-in-hand for years anyway.”

Super Studio Director Dawn Koranda, who will resume her role for the enhanced Super Studio, said it made sense that the two companies would join forces.

“We were seeing that we had some overlap in our service offerings, and we at Super Studio started getting more and more into video production and editing,” she said. “And that is a service that Media Productions had as well, and so we looked at our models and we