Presbyterian Hospital is making progress on constructing the first comprehensive hospital in Rio Rancho.

Clay Holderman, administrator for Presbyterian Rio Rancho Hospital, said it has have put $6 million into preconstruction work on the 66-acre site near the intersection of Unser and Black Arroyo Road and will pour concrete on Wednesday.

“After Thanksgiving, work begins full-speed-ahead and never look back,” he said. “By January there will be 160 crew members on the site and you will see concrete coming out of the ground.”

RIO RANCHO OBSERVER '€” JIMMY CURRIER PHOTO Clay Holderman, administrator of Presbyterian Rio Rancho Hospital, stands in front of cranes that are preparing to do construction work on the 66-acre site for Presbyterian Hospital. The hospital is expected to open in October of 2011.

Holderman projects the hospital opening in October of 2011 and estimates that 25,000 construction jobs will be created by the project. He said at any given time, there could be as many as 500 people on site.

“This will be an incredible boost to the economy,” he said.

Initially, Presbyterian Hos-pital will have 66 beds. But, Holderman said, the company has long-range plans to expand capacity to 300 beds.

He said the hospital in Rio Rancho could be the hub for Presbyterian’s Medical Services in the region, pointing out that in 30 years Rio Rancho is projected to be the center of the metroplex.

Holderman explained that Presbyterian’s downtown Albuquerque hospital is saturated and several of the buildings are old.

Presbyterian’s five-story hospital in Rio Rancho will feature modern amenities like wireless Internet, family zones and natural light.

Each patient room will have large windows to allow natural light and the interior atriums will also have natural light to help the employees, according to Holderman.

“Studies have shown that increased natural light and natural views as well as controlling sound reduce pain medication use by 20 percent, reduce patient delirium and confusion, patient falls and staff fatigue,” he said. “It’s in everyone’s best interest for the patient to have an uncomplicated stay and to be back with their family quickly.”

The patient rooms will include a table, chair and a couch so the visitors can spend more quality time with the patient without having to move out of the way for the caregiver, Holderman said.

Presbyterian plans to employ 400 people, have 140 physicians and an annual payroll of $40 million. Holderman said Presbyterian already employs 300 people in Rio Rancho with an annual payroll of $28 million at their sites on Southern and High Resort.

The hospital in Rio Rancho will have a full-service emergency department with a helicopter pad, a state-of-the-art women’s center, labor and delivery and a neonatal intensive care unit. Presbyterian also will offer intensive care, operating rooms and a catheterization lab.

The neonatal intensive care unit is one of the specialty services that would not be possible without the voter-approved 4.25-mill property tax for health services.

“This mill levy allows us to operate services that the population couldn’t serve otherwise,” Holderman said. “There isn’t a high enough volume of babies to support those specialists, the physician salaries and the high-technological equipment, but because we have annual revenue coming in from the mill levy we will be able to provide it from day one.”

Holderman, who pays the mill levy as a Cabezon resident, pointed out that the mill levy can’t be used for construction, but only medical operations. The Sandoval County Commission is in control of the money.

The funds collected while the hospital is under construction will be placed in an escrow account. The county expects to collect $13.8 million this year from the mill levy.

University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center will also receive money from the property tax levy to fund special services.

Holderman also explained that without voter approval of the mill levy, the hospital’s construction would have been delayed.

“Without this mill levy, we would not be moving forward at this time,” he said. ”The revenue coming in from this mill levy is a significant comfort to bond issuers that the community is behind Presbyterian and committed to the hospital. We are sincerely grateful for the residents that voted it in.”

Presbyterian received $130 million from a recent bond sale to help fund the $165 million hospital project. Presbyterian is using $10 million from operations and is looking for $25 million in philanthropy to fund the balance.