UNC Health Blue Ridge will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, August 21, at 4:00 PM for its new six-story patient tower, which features a new Emergency Department and Intensive Care floor.

The public is invited to take a guided tour of the facility after the ceremony. The 220,560-square-foot addition means the Emergency Department is triple the size of the old one, and the ICU nearly doubles the number of rooms available for critically ill patients, from 16 to 30 beds.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Emergency Department is expected to open to the public in a matter of weeks. However, the new ICU will not be operational until the spring of 2025.