Completing construction of a $124 million patient tower by July will be a challenge, the president of Butler Health System said.

"But we believe we are going to make it," Ken DeFurio told about two dozen people attending the institution's annual public meeting last night.

The health system, which operates Butler Memorial Hospital and two dozen satellite medical facilities, is nearing the end of a four-year $155 million expansion and upgrade.

The largest element in the project is the seven-story tower, which is under construction as part of an upgrade of Butler Memorial Hospital on East Brady Street. The hospital campus is on the City of Butler-Butler Township line.

"It's no longer just [an architectural] rendering," Mr. DeFurio said as an image of the patient tower appeared on a television screen he was using in his presentation. "If you drive past, this is what you'll see."

The event, which also featured brief presentation's from top financial and patient care executives, was held in the health system's East Campus on Oneida Valley Road in Summit Township.

Although facing economic uncertainty in the wake of a national recession, the health system ended its financial year on June 30 in the black, chief financial officer Anne Krebs said.

The non-profit institution reported revenues of $206 million and expenses of $196 million, leaving $10 million to pay for future programs and technology, she said.

Despite the freezing up of credit markets in September 2008, the health system was part of a "trickle" of borrowers able to sell bonds last fall, she said. The institution has borrowed $126 million that it will pay back over the next 30 years. The average interest rates on the mix of fixed- and variable-rate securities is between 6 percent and 6.5 percent, she said.

Dr. Tom McGill, vice president of quality and safety, described the hospital's efforts to meet national patient safety goals, reduce medication errors and cut infection and ulcer rates.

Butler Memorial is heading toward 100 percent compliance with 10 such measures, he said. They including hand washing, having nurses read back all verbal orders from doctors and confirming patient identities with two pieces of personal information.

Mr. DeFurio discussed the health system's plans for satellite facilities scheduled to open in Saxonburg in 2010 and in Slippery Rock in 2011.

Both would offer out-patient services like lab work and imaging services like X-rays and cardiac tests.

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