Alert

Effective Jan. 5, 2026: Temporary Age-Based Visitor Restrictions at UNC Health for all inpatient and waiting areas throughout its inpatient hospitals.

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Our new Intensive Care Unit is now open!

UNC Health Blue Ridge’s new Intensive Care Unit is designed to serve our community with advanced medical care, cutting-edge technology, and compassionate support.
This state-of-the-art facility is a testament to our commitment to providing exceptional healthcare close to home. The new ICU offers:
  • Expanded capacity to meet growing needs.
  • Modern equipment to enhance patient outcomes, including digital signs that update a patient’s condition and care team in real time. Funded by the Blue Ridge HealthCare Foundation, these signs bring comfort to family members and patients by improving communication with the care team.
  • Comfortable, thoughtfully designed spaces for patients and their loved ones.

Our highly skilled medical team is ready to provide the critical care you need when you need it most. At UNC Health Blue Ridge, we are here for you every step of the way. Together, let’s continue building a healthier community! 

Project Forward Tower Composite

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE - WHY OUR NEW PATIENT TOWER IS AMAZING!

Project Forward At UNC Health Blue Ridge

The six-story Patient Tower currently houses our Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit.

Project Forward Patient Tower Morganton Campus

We’re moving healthcare forward for the region.

The new tower, UNC Health Blue Ridge’s largest expansion project to date, is a testament to our commitment to patient care. Designed with compassionate care in mind, the new tower is more than a building. It offers an enhanced patient experience with spacious rooms in the ICU and Emergency Department, dedicated space for our behavioral health patients, and a more extensive waiting room and private consultation space.

Project Forward Tower Composite

Features . . .

  • The addition is 220,560 square feet (SF), nearly doubling the size of the Morganton hospital.
  • The new Emergency Department (ED) floor is more than triple the size of the current one. The ED has 29 new exam rooms, including four trauma rooms with the latest life-saving equipment to stabilize patients. We also have rooms made safer for the behavioral health population, three airborne infection isolation rooms, two rooms set aside for larger patients, and 5 additional stretcher alcoves. The new ED will have a dedicated Fast Track area, consult/grief rooms, and a more extensive waiting area with vending machines and restrooms.
  • X-ray and CT will be located within the department, meaning patients won’t have to travel far for services.
  • The ambulance entrance is in the back of the building to prevent congestion with the public.
  • A convenient connector corridor will lead directly to MRI or the Surgical Suite for faster transport times.
Patient Tower With Logo Sign

. . . And More Features

  • Our new ICU floor, almost five times larger than the existing one, boasts 30 beds, while the existing one has 16 beds. The rooms are spacious, accommodating life-saving equipment and visiting family members with a sleeper sofa and recliner. Three rooms are specifically designed for larger patients. The new floor layout ensures our nurses are always close to our sickest patients, with new electronic patient information signs in patient rooms updated in real-time.
  • There are 10 airborne infection isolation rooms, and in the event of a pandemic, the entire floor can be used.
  • Three shell floors can readily be upfitted for future use, depending on current needs or trends in healthcare.
  • The rooftop helipad is heated and has its own fire suppression system. Currently, patients awaiting transport to or from the facility are taken by ambulance to the landing pad behind the hospital.

Patient Tower Roof