Community Health System facilities in Fresno include Downtown Fresno's Community Regional Medical Center. Photo contributed

Community Medical Center will unveil a major expansion project in Downtown Fresno this fall, with the grand opening of the Burnett Extended Care Center, providing the hospital with 154 brand new skilled nursing beds in a 62,500-square-foot facility adjacent to the provider’s main hospital.

This week, local dignitaries and politicians will tour the site, which looks to improve continuity of care and patient access for clinicians. The center will include a secure memory care unit with enhanced safety features, a long-term care and rehabilitation unit, short-term care space and two landscaped courtyards.

The facility will also feature modern therapy spaces, including an occupational therapy gym that simulates real-life environments to help patients regain independence and ability to perform at-home and work activities.

“Having this so close to our downtown hospital not only provides necessary care and comfort for our patients but it allows them to be discharged safely to an appropriate care environment,” said Community Health System Chief Operating Officer Cory Belliston.

The center will also be home to administrative offices for more than 40 Community Medical Center leaders.

The building is named after Celia Burnett, who helped found the Burnett Sanitarium in 1897, which played a key role in the development, and later, evolution into what is now Community Health System.

For more details on the Burnett Center, check out this Friday’s issue of The Business Journal.