The addition of 120 beds to the ninth and 10th floors of the patient tower in UKHealthCare, Lexington, is the latest phase in a $1 billion expansion project that began in 2004, according to an article on the Kentucky Kernel website.

The tower includes 192 patient rooms as well as a 64-bed cardiovascular unit, an observation unit, nine operating rooms and 43 pre-operation and post-anesthesia care beds.

The expansion also includes the replacement of the hospital kitchen and cafeteria, relocation of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Pavilion A, relocation of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and a new entryway and family support space for Kentucky Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Michael Karpf, the Executive Vice President for the university’s health affairs, said that in addition to the tower expansion, other parts of the hospital must be renovated to keep up with patients’ needs and changing technology.

Read the article.