Norman Regional Hospital Moves To New I-35 Location

The Norman Regional Health System marked a new chapter Monday with the first full day at a new primary location.

After 78 years at 901 North Porter Ave, the location has been decommissioned, closing its hospital doors to patients and making the move across town to a new state-of-the-art hospital near Interstate 35 and West Tecumseh Road. The new location, previously known as the HealthPlex, is now Norman Regional Hospital.

“Bye, thanks for all the care!” One patient told hospital staff Sunday.

“We had an incredible dance occurring over the weekend,” Norman Regional President and CEO Richie Splitt said.

Paramedics and EMTs transported 80 patients across town to the new hospital on Sunday.

“As amazing and as technologically advanced as it is, to see it go from paper to blow your mind, it’s a great feeling,” Splitt said.

Norman’s Emergency Room, ICU, surgical services, and inpatient units are now under one roof at the Interstate 35 and Tecumseh Road locations.

“There’s no more confusion about where to go,” Splitt said. “All of the services are located here and it’s much more convenient very accessible to our patients, very convenient for our providers, our physicians, and everyone else.”

The move is part of a five-stage, $310 million construction project called Inspire Health. The projects will expand the hospital’s footprint to roughly a million square feet.

“We tried to bring outside in as part of the healing environment. We have great visibility, floor to floor-to-ceiling windows in the patient rooms. Our lobbies are filled with sunlight. We have living organisms on the wall that welcome people to a spot for information,” Splitt said.

“So gorgeous, so beautiful!” Patient Charlotte De-Voe said.

De-Voe said the new hospital is something Norman can be proud of.

“I love the doctors,” she said. “They got a sense of humor and compassion. That’s what I love: the compassion, the health, the love, and the happiness,

Following the move, Urgent Care and some oncology services will stay here at the old Porter location. Oncology services will also be transferred to the Interstate 35 location once a new cancer wing is opened in 2025.