Giving to grow is what three physician groups have done in the last few months to help bring Clovis Community Medical Center’s expansion closer to its objective. Each medical group contributed $100,000 to the project.

When construction of the five-story bed tower at Clovis Community Medical Center is finished, it will be the tallest building in the city.

At 90 feet, the bed tower will be taller than the Comfort Suites on Clovis Avenue. And it may be taller than the city water towers, city officials said.

Clovis Community Medical Center reached a milestone as the last steel beam on the new 5-story bed tower was hoisted and put in place. Community executives and many from Clark Construction signed the beam prior to its placement on the 90-foot high bed tower.

Randy Freet’s path to a nursing career wasn’t a typical one – but it appears that path led him to the right place. Freet has spent his entire 32-year nursing career with Community Medical Centers, including 12 years at the former Sierra Community Hospital and 20 at Clovis Community Medical Center.

The massive expansion of Clovis Community Medical Center is just what the local economy and the development of the city needs, said business people, politicians and economic development officials at a June 2 breakfast meeting.

Community Medical Centers is pushing ahead with major expansion plans for its Clovis hospital, despite tough economic times that have put some hospitals at risk of going out of business. The sour economy has led to perhaps the biggest need for donor-investors in Community’s 113-year history, and a familiar family is helping to answer the need.