SHAOZHUO CUI The Roanoke Times

Heavy trucks transport dirt that has just been dug up from the top of the hill to build the foundation of the new Giles County hospital.

PEARISBURG -- Site work is on schedule for the new hospital coming to Giles County.

Carilion Clinic broke ground on the site in April, as well as announced a new name -- Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital will become Carilion Giles Community Hospital. The name change is meant to underscore Carilion's commitment to the community, according to the organization's Web site.

James Tyler, hospital administrator, said site work should be completed by the end of June. Foundation work is expected to begin in July, and Tyler said crews should be hanging steel in August.

The new 85,000-square-foot site is on the former Dogwood Farm property, behind the Pearisburg Square Shopping Center. The $50 million facility is 25,000 square feet larger than the existing hospital in Pearisburg, with room for stereotactic breast biopsy, nuclear medicine and rotating specialists.

Though the new hospital will have more space, the number of beds is still limited to 25 because of the hospital's critical access status.

"Because we're a small, rural hospital, we get cost reimbursed from Medicare, and as a result of that our bed number is limited," Tyler said. "However, we are utilizing our beds more efficiently than other hospitals in this area."

The daily average at Giles Memorial is 18 patients, meaning the hospital has a 72 percent occupancy rate compared with an occupancy rate of 31 percent at nearby Tazewell Community Hospital, according to the American Hospital Association's 2008 Guide to U.S. Hospitals.

While the number of beds will remain static, the new hospital will increase the number of emergency department beds from five to nine. Other planned improvements include a rapid diagnostic center, which allows multiple tests to be completed in one area without patients shuttling among several locations in the hospital. Also being added will be nuclear medicine services, which are instrumental to the diagnosis of cancer and the ability to conduct bone scans, Tyler said.

"We're going to offer the same services, just in far less of a cramped space than we are now," he said. "Our operating costs should go down because of that, and we'll have more energy efficient heating and cooling too."

One recent milestone for the new facility was concluding negotiations with General Electric to purchase about $2 million in new radiology equipment, Tyler said.

In addition, the Women's Clubs and Junior Women's Clubs of Giles County and Monroe County, W.Va., are sponsoring a campaign to put a digital mammography unit in the new hospital. The cost of that equipment is about $350,000, and the groups are selling pink camouflage shirts for women and woodland camouflage shirts for men to raise the money. The slogan for the project is "Camo for Mammo."

Carilion plans to finish the hospital by spring 2010, when staff members will begin training there, and occupancy is expected sometime that summer. County officials will determine what will be done with the old hospital building.

Giles County Administrator Chris McKlarney said the county is exploring options for the existing hospital building. One option would be using part of it for county offices and part of it for a 25-bed assisted living center. Another option would be selling or leasing the entire facility as a private assisted living center.

"We are looking to see if anyone in that business is interested in coming in and doing that, and it is the most likely option at this time," McKlarney said. "These are only two options, they are not the only two options, and everything is very preliminary at this stage."