Fairview Southdale Breaks Ground on $42M Emergency Center

Dozens of executives, employees and supporters of the Fairview Southdale Hospital came to the Edina medical campus Monday afternoon for the groundbreaking of a new $42 million emergency center.

The hospital is hoping to raise an additional $5.3 million from the community toward a $15 million campaign goal.

“The need for both emergency and chronic care will continue to grow as our population ages,” Edina mayor Jim Hovland said during the ceremony. “Today about 20 percent of Edina residents are 65 or older, compared with about 12 percent for the state as a whole.”

The expanded emergency center will be 2.5 times bigger than the existing facility, with the number of rooms increasing from 30 to 43. It will have a new rooftop helipad, larger specially equipped spaces for trauma and heart emergencies and a new observation space to monitor patients who need further care but do not need to be admitted.

The emergency center is named of Carl N. Platou, a long-time administrator at the hospital whose daughter was present at the groundbreaking ceremony.

“Everything about this hospital meant so much to Dad,” said Nancy Platou Steinke, “and he took great satisfaction in working with others to help it grow and become what it is today: the first full-service satellite hospital in the nation, and a model for other hospitals throughout the country.”