SEVIER COUNTY, Ark. (KTAL/KMSS) — It has been over two years since the De Queen Medical Center closed, and Sevier County voted to pass a one-percent sales tax in November 2019.

According to the Chair of Sevier County Medical Center, Steve Cole 17,000 residents are awaiting the completion of the new hospital costing 24 million dollars.

“This is a county owned hospital. We want to build it for the community. We need it,” said Cole.

The facility will be located three miles north of Dequeen on highway 71.

“We started construction on the hospital last fall. We are moving along very quickly. So much so in about 30 days, we should have the slab already poured on the 40,000 ft structure and we should start to go vertical as they say in the business world, building walls,” said Cole.

The hospital will provide over 100 jobs to the community. Officials say donations from the industry will allow them to build a 1-mile walking trail, helipad, and safe haven box being one of the few in the state.

“The new hospital is just going to be a breath of fresh air we will tolerate nothing but the best,” said Cole.

Considered as critical access but on a smaller scale the hospital will have 14 beds and a negative pressure room to isolate patients with infectious diseases like the COVID 19.

“We’ve left room for expansion not just internally in the hospital but if we need to expand the footprint of the hospital we have left the opportunity open as well. So we hope we have put a lot of contingency in place to make this hospital not just good for now but 30 or 40 years down the road,” said Cole.

The hospital could be complete as early as Spring 2022.