Temecula Valley Hospital held its grand opening ceremony October 14.
Darlene Wetton, the hospital’s chief executive officer, unveiled the entry sign on the edge of Temecula Parkway, according to a report originally published in The Press-Enterprise.
That sparked a celebration of honking car horns and cheers from a crowd of hospital staff members.
The five-story hospital, which has 140 beds, sat empty for weeks as staff members waited to find out if they had passed a state inspection.
Once that hurdle was cleared, Temecula Valley Hospital began accepting patients.
Within minutes of the opening, an ambulance delivered an elderly woman to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Before Temecula, a city of 100,000-plus residents, got its own hospital, emergency patients were taken to hospitals north of Temecula in Wildomar and Murrieta, according to the report.
Temecula Valley Hospital, which took about 10 years to develop and build, will be run by Universal Health Services in King Of Prussia, Pa. There are plans to build another five-story tower, a cancer center, fitness center and offices at the new hospital, possibly within two years, according to the report.