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'It has exceeded expectation': Hundreds of community members tour new Norton West hospital, weeks before it opens

While the first hospital in West Louisville isn't set to open until Nov. 11, 600 community members were able to tour the facility ahead of time.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The new Norton West Louisville Hospital at 28th Street and Broadway opened it's doors Monday to more than 600 community members to tour the facility for the first time.

This is the first hospital west of 9th Street in 150 years.

While the hospital won't be opening it's doors to patients until Nov. 11, the tours gave residents a chance to see the brand new facility, and what it has to offer.

"The community built it. The community is going to work here. The community gets to see it before they are the community that gets treated here," said Norton West Chief Administrative Officer Corenza Townsend. "We kept our promise. We built a beautiful facility. I feel like we gave everything that was asked for."

A facility West Louisvillians have been waiting for, for over a century.

"We had requested it for so many years and just did not ever think that it would come to fruition, but it has, and it has exceeded expectation," said Molo Village Founder Reverend Jamesetta Ferguson. "I'm also excited for the benefits for the people in this community that sometimes neglect their health care, or don't have access to downtown, and so now this is accessible to them, and you know, and this improves their life expectancy."

The medical offices at the facility off West Broadway will house adult primary care providers and specialists in cardiology, endocrinology, orthopedics, pulmonology, surgery, women’s care, oncology/hematology, neurology and neurosurgery.

Hospital leaders said they involved the community throughout the planning process, which led to brightly colored artwork, a community space, and food pantry. They also hired from the neighborhoods.

Townsend said they currently have 360 employees, which she said is enough to open the hospital now if they wanted.

"Seventy-two percent of the people that work at West Louisville hospital are external to Norton healthcare; that means new jobs around our city are coming to Norton Healthcare," Townsend said. "One of the main things that we said that we wanted specific for West Louisville hospital is people who had a why. And so, we said that we were hiring for West Louisville, but we didn't have to go look too far the people came to us."

Now, less than a month out from the hospital opening, residents are counting down the days.

"I think it's a message of hope; I think we've been talking and anticipating like change is coming," said Mohlatlego Makgoba. "It means that people can be confident and like also take control over their health and the resources that they need to be healthy."

There will also be a block party on Oct. 26 celebrating both the hospital and the Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center. A monument unveiling will happen at 11 a.m., and the party will go from noon to 4 p.m. at the Norton West Louisville Hospital.

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