New West Valley hospital aims to tackle west-side health disparities thanks to a $75M donation

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The University of Utah announced “a landmark donation” contributing to its first off-campus hospital on Tuesday, saying the facility will be built in West Valley City to help combat health disparities in communities west of I-15.

The new hospital was first announced last year, and on Tuesday, the $75 million gift from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation was celebrated in a press conference.

“This project is not just about constructing a building, it’s about investing in the health and wellbeing and future of West Valley City and our neighboring west side communities,” West Valley City Mayor Karen Lang said. “I know I speak for all of us when I say thank you.”

West Valley Hospital

The hospital will be located on 22 acres of property at 3750 South and 5600 West in West Valley City.

It will encompass approximately 800,000 square feet and include 100 hospital beds and 200 exam rooms for specialty outpatient clinics. The clinics will include services for heart care, orthopedics, women’s health, and pediatrics, according to the press release.

Construction on the new hospital will begin this upcoming summer and is expected to be completed in stages starting in 2028 and wrapping up in 2029.

Health disparities

Gov. Spencer Cox said about seven or eight years ago he “became obsessed with the medical disparities in our state,” noting that Salt Lake County’s east-side communities have a life expectancy of nearly 10 years higher than west-side communities.

Cox said he believes “this is how you change that data point.”

According to the University of Utah, west-side residents also have nearly twice the rate of heart disease-related deaths, a 44% higher rate of diabetes, and a 38% greater likelihood of strokes when compared to their east-side counterparts.

Officials said west-side residents travel a collective 12 million miles per year to visit the on-campus U of U Hospital, noting that these visits will now take place in their community.

“As a family and as a Foundation, we are so thrilled about this project because this community – right here in our Salt Lake Valley – has not had access to the kind of world-class medical care that they deserve,” said Spencer F. Eccles, CEO of the Eccles Foundation.

Economic impact

In addition to the medical benefits, state and school officials say the campus is also expected to create more than 2,000 jobs in the area.

“The services workers, the janitors at this hospital, their kids are going to be doctors,” Cox said. “And the ability to break the intergenerational poverty cycle that exists in far too many of our neighborhoods, the ability to transform generations, to save lives, and save kids and grandkids who aren’t born yet, that’s what we’re talking about here.”

During the press conference, Cox said this donation is just one of the Eccles’ many contributions to the state of Utah.

“Of all their gifts, and they are legion, I believe that this one in particular could have the largest impact of anything else they’ve done in the past century plus,” he said.