About 400 people stood in a large Gilbert alfalfa field Wednesday to mark the building outline of what will be the town’s first full-service hospital.
An aerial photograph of the Mercy Gilbert Medical Center site was taken as Chandler Regional Hospital employees, volunteers and their family members joined Spectrum Elementary School students on the east side of Val Vista Drive, between Pecos and Germann roads.
Catholic Healthcare West operates Chandler Regional Hospital as well as St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center and Barrow Neurological Institute, both of Phoenix. The San Franciscobased company plans to open its Gilbert hospital by early 2006, said Chandler Regional Hospital president David Covert.
Janet Althoff, a 27-year Chandler hospital employee, also participated in a 1982 aerial footprint photo for the Chandler building.
"I can still find myself in that photo," said Althoff, who brought two of her children along.
The 102-acre Gilbert site is just south of the future Santan Freeway stretch of Loop 202.
Banner Health had proposed to build a hospital on the opposite side of Val Vista Drive, but the Phoenix-based company withdrew its application in December.
