The island-wide Whidbey General Hospital District is pouring more resources into South Whidbey.

With demand for services growing at South Whidbey health care facilities, the hospital district is planning a new building that officials hope will become a hub for patients.

The Whidbey General Hospital Board approved taking out $18 million worth of revenue bonds during its Monday evening meeting. The money will pay for construction and a number of other projects.

Unlike voter-approved bonds, the bonds the board approved will be paid off with the revenue generated by the new center, currently called Whidbey General Hospital Healthcare Services Center.

“This is a building that will house patient services that will pay for the debt incurred over time,” said Scott Rhine, CEO of Whidbey General Hospital. The bonds will be paid off over a period of 30 years.

The final plans still need to be approved by the hospital board and Rhine said that will take place sometime in the next few months. Construction should begin in spring 2009 and the 24,000-square-foot building should take a year to complete.

Rhine said the current clinic in Clinton is too small to serve an increasing number of patients. In 2007, the clinic had 7,040 visits for a location that has only four exam rooms and doesn’t have the capacity to grow.

The proposed building, which would be located on Highway 525 in Bayview, would be home to a rural health clinic, a lab, digital imaging, oncology, medical ambulatory care and rehabilitation services.

Rhine said there will also be room for an urgent care/walk-in clinic, but final plans for the building haven’t been approved yet. Whether the walk-in clinic will open depends on the costs.

Once the building in Bayview opens, the clinic in Clinton would close. The existing doctor’s offices in Freeland, and the one the hospital is purchasing in Langley, would remain open.

Part of the bond money will be used as bridging funding for the new EMS facility that also will be built in Bayview. The ambulance building is to be funded by a levy, however, the hospital receives levy money two times a year and officials need money available so construction can start.

Another portion of the bonds will go toward purchasing the land where the North Whidbey Community Clinic is located on Goldie Road in North Whidbey.