Monument Health children facility set for multi-million-dollar expansion

Children's facility set for huge expansion for first time since 1983.
Published: Feb. 23, 2024 at 11:21 PM EST

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Monument Health announced in 2022, there will be a major expansion to one of its more outdated facilities.

The multi-million-dollar expansion will be the first time since 1983 that any work has been done on the current children’s facility. The addition is set to cover more than 25,000 square feet and will include a lobby for the children and birthing areas, a neonatal intensive care unit, and a space for future post-partum care.

Doctors and officials at Monument Health are excited to bring much-needed services to families around the Black Hills.

“So providing that space helps us to do that, and it helps to provide the room to grow and bring more services to town,” Inpatient Medical Director Kyle Lemley, M.D. said.

“Just modernizing and really providing that comfortable space for families, especially during a very traumatic experience. If their child is in here either in the NICU or in the Pediatrics Department we want to be that health care system that people can rely on, especially with our tiniest of patients,” Monument Health Foundation director Hans Nelson said.

The foundation is still seeking the public’s help to raise $1.2 million to finish the project and the community can do so through donations and pledges or by attending events Monument Health will host throughout the year.