LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WIVB) — Catholic Health first announced plans to build a new “neighborhood” hospital in Lockport nearly three years ago. On Tuesday, the ribbon was cut in a blessing and dedication ceremony, the final step before its grand opening on Oct. 10.

“We are here to celebrate not just a state of the art, but a state of the heart model where commitment, determination and hard work of health care leadership along with all levels of government came together to make today possible for the community,” stated Regional Director of Western New York Bonnie Lockwood.

The City of Lockport and the surrounding community of Niagara County have more than 80,000 residents.

This past June those residents saw the end of an era — after more than 100 years, Eastern Niagara Hospital closed its doors. Spurring the creation of the new and much needed Lockport memorial hospital.

“We are opening a new hospital so let that moment sink in, this is incredible. They had a vision, and they picked the right people because a hospital has four walls, but it’s really the people that minister to our patients,” added Catholic Health Senior Vice President CJ Urlaub.

“The 60,000 square-foot facility features an 18-bed full-service emergency department; 10 to 20 bed inpatient unit along with diagnostic imaging and laboratory services, including blood draw; medical offices for primary care, women’s health, and specialty care services,” added hospital Director of Public Relations JoAnn Cavanaugh.

The wealth of care opportunities had a domino effect, drawing in some of the best medical professionals in Western New York.

“Many of the employees that will be working here are former employees from Eastern Niagara Hospital, some employees are from Catholic Health that wanted the opportunity to work here,” said Catholic Health President and CEO, Joyce Markiewicz.

“We had hired many of the employees, they came on board with us early, so they had the opportunity to learn our electronic medical record, to get acclimated to Catholic Health. We’ve done a lot of additional training for the people that will be working at this site. So, we really built a wonderful core group of people that are all going to start in a brand-new facility all on day one together,” concluded Markiewicz.

The dedication ceremony concluded with Michael W. Fisher, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo blessing the hospital for the years to come. The hospital is set to open at 8 a.m. on Tuesday Oct. 10, with Mount St. Mary’s temporary emergency room set to close at 7 a.m. that morning.