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Updated: Sunday, June 26 at 5:15 p.m.

Hundreds of people got the chance to check out a project that's been years in the making.

Sunday the new Boone Hospital Center Patient Tower was open to the public.

"I think when they come in, what they're going to find is that it's a very healing environment,” vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer Mary Beck said. “We've really done evidence base design. One of the nice things is there's a wide expanse of a window in the rooms and so natural light comes in. We've tried to create an ambiance with natures colors brought in because we do know that a healing environment can make a difference in a patients length of stay."

The tower officially opens to patients Monday.

Original Story:

It's a project that’s been years in the making, but the new Boone Hospital Center patient tower was dedicated Wednesday morning.

Hospital and community leaders say the new 128-room tower combines state of the art technology and impressive patient care. The new tower features regular patient rooms, intensive care rooms, step-down patient rooms and medical surgery rooms.

The roughly 125 million dollar project was financed through bonds and private funds.

Sustainable building materials, "green" cleaning products and the use of rainwater for the landscaping makes the new patient tower a LEED-certified, environmentally friendly building.

There’s an open house for the public Sunday from Noon to 3:00. It opens officially to patients Monday.