PEMBERTON TWP. – The Deborah Heart and Lung Center needed $ 100 million for an expansion project slated for completion in 2022.

And now the hospital has the money, officials say.

Deborah announced last month that she had received a low-interest loan of $ 88.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the latest funding needed for the expansion, officials said. hospital. The hospital had already raised around $ 16 million for this effort.

The project will convert Deborah’s double-occupancy inpatient rooms to private suites and add a new inpatient tower with 36 private rooms. When completed, Deborah will increase its capacity from 89 to 95 beds and have all private rooms, hospital officials say.

“Although the project was underway before COVID-19, the pandemic has shown the importance of converting to private rooms for patient care and visitor safety,” said a press release from Deborah.

The expansion will also improve Deborah’s teaching and research facilities by adding new technology to the electrophysiology labs and upgrading the cardiac catheterization labs.

“We are delighted to receive the news of the loan approval,” said Joseph Chirichella, CEO of Deborah. “We had this project on the drawing board before the pandemic, and even with the tremendous challenges and stresses in healthcare over the past year, our team continued to plan for the future.”

When announcing the $ 88.2 million loan, federal officials said “nearly 800,000 rural residents are in the Deborah service area.”

“Having access to high quality medical services is critical to the future of our rural New Jersey communities,” said Brandon Pfeilmeier, USDA Acting Director of State for New Jersey.

Deborah aims to launch the project by the summer and complete it by the end of 2022. The project is called Deborah 100 because its completion will coincide with the hospital’s 100th anniversary.

“This is an exciting project that marks a new milestone in Deborah’s 100-year history,” said Chirichella.

A local sports and news reporter in Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 2015, Jarrad Daniel Saffren joined the award-winning Burlington County Times local news team in October 2019, adding business, educational and municipal features to the coverage. . Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @JarradSaff. Help us support local journalism by subscribing to the Burlington County Times.