San Diego Reader

Kearny Mesa — On Saturday, January 10, 2009, the new Stephen Birch Healthcare Center at Sharp Memorial Hospital was officially unveiled to the public. Hospital staff members were on hand at the 315,000-square-foot, 334-bed facility to provide tours and answer any questions about the hospital. Doctors were also on hand giving demonstrations of the new equipment in the hospital including the Di Vinci Robotic Surgical System and the computerized patient beds with built-in translation software. To ensure that everyone was entertained, there was even a violinist playing classical music in the surgical intensive care unit. The Stephen Birch Healthcare Center is the first new hospital to be built in San Diego in more than 15 years. The facility has been in the planning stage for 10 years and under construction for 4 years. Sharp will begin transferring its first patients to the new facility on Wednesday January 14, 2009.