Anna Jaques Hospital to Expand Thanks to $22.5 Million MassDevelopment Bond

January 3, 2011

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077
Deborah Chiaravalloti, Anna Jaques Hospital, 978-463-1175

MassDevelopment has issued a $22.5 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, a 123-bed community hospital that serves 17 cities and towns in the Merrimack Valley. The hospital will use bond proceeds to build a new general services building, expand an inpatient unit, and renovate the ambulatory surgery suite. T.D. Bank purchased the bond. Hospital officials expect the project to create 10 jobs.

“As a community hospital, Anna Jaques specializes in patient- and family-oriented care for the Merrimack Valley,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “Massachusetts is fortunate to have some of the top medical institutions in the country, and we're pleased this tax-exempt bond will help one of the Commonwealth's hospitals expand its services.”

Bond proceeds will also finance renovations to the hospital's outpatient entrance, the purchase of capital equipment, and the refinance of previous loans and bonds. Anna Jaques offers the one of the most recognized wound centers in the country, praised for its 96.6 percent healing rate. Other services include an endocrinology and diabetes center, a designated area to treat strokes, a Level III Trauma Center, and a birth center with neonatal care center. The hospital also has fully digital operating room suites, high definition endoscopy equipment, and an MRI with total imaging technology to provide better diagnostic images of the full body.

“The centerpiece of the project that this financing makes possible is a fully renovated, single occupancy, new inpatient unit,” said Delia O'Connor, President of Anna Jaques Hospital. “We believe single occupancy will be the expectation of patients in the future, and Anna Jaques intends to meet that need for privacy, a peaceful healing environment and infection control.”

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2010, MassDevelopment financed or managed 238 projects in 104 communities across the state generating investment of nearly $1.4 billion in the Massachusetts economy.