St. Elizabeth's Boardman draws hundreds to open house

Hundreds showed up to take the tour of the new $83 million hospital.

BOARDMAN — “I’m a nurse so I’m nosy,” Patricia Hill said midway through her tour of the new St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center.

The Youngstown woman brought along her 10-year-old grandson, Richard V. Hill III, for Sunday’s open house at the 300,000 square-foot $83 million facility on Market Street.

“I wanted to see what’s considered state of the art,” said Hill, a nurse at Advanced Cardiology Inc. on Sahara Trail in Boardman.

Hill said she found the new hospital beautiful and impressive. She liked the idea of the hospital’s Internet site that allows users to store their health information for access from home computers.

Hundreds of visitors — of all ages — stood on line in humid weather as they waited to get inside and see the seven-story hospital. Visitors included babies in strollers and children clinging tight to parents’ hands. Live music filled the parking lot.

Sunday’s turn-out was “amazing,” said Tina Creighton, public relations specialist for the hospital. “We did a water brigade for people waiting outside.”

Ellen Sue and Paul Rentz of Poland took a break from the tour to sit on a wooden bench. They talked about the facility’s friendly staff and modern equipment.

Ellen Sue, who works for the Mahoning County Department of Jobs and Family Services, said she thought seeing the hospital would be a good way to know what’s available in the community.

“Beautiful, absolutely gorgeous,” said David Smith, who traveled to Boardman from Pittsburgh with his wife and 19-month-old toddler. Smith, who works for General Electric, counts St. Elizabeth’s among his clients for radiology and diagnostic equipment.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com