Sutter Surgery Center Opens its Doors in Elk Grove

A year and five days , Sutter Health cut the ribbon Tuesday on a $10.8 million surgery center on Laguna Boulevard.

"I remember just approving it the other day," Mayor Jim Cooper said.

Staff from the medical company said the two-operating-room center, which is the third building on Sutter's 44-acre property, will perform about 1,200 procedures in its first year.

The center can eventually add a third operating room if demand calls for it.

Dr. Elizabeth Gonzalez, a Sutter OB/GYN and Elk Grove resident, said the center will specialize in ear, nose and throat; gynecology; orthopedics; podiatry and general surgery. Its first procedure is scheduled for May 30, she said.

She said she is excited that local patients will no longer have to travel to downtown Sacramento for surgeries from Sutter.

"It's very significant," Gonzalez said. "They don't have to deal with traffic [or] coordinating transportation."

Cooper said Sutter Health is "doing its part to power the economic engine locally."

He praised the number of local jobs created by Sutter–the surgery center adds 18 jobs, bringing the number of employees at the Laguna Boulevard campus to 275, according to a press release.

Eric Rasmussen, the Sutter Medical Foundation Interim Chief Operating Officer, said the company has plans to add a full-service hospital to the Laguna Boulevard property, but it "depends on the long-term growth of Elk Grove."

"It's still on our long-term horizons to look at in the future," Rasmussen said.

--

Correction: A previous photo caption on this story misidentified Sutter Medical Foundation CEO Tom Blinn. Elk Grove Patch regrets the error.

--