Yesterday's front page headline describing Sunday's public tour of Butler Memorial Hospital's new surgical tower said it well: "Hospital puts on a show."

The new surgical tower on the main campus of Butler Memorial Hospital says a lot about Butler Health System and the people behind the organization. It also says something about Butler.

The stunning new seven-story tower makes a statement, in terms of both aesthetics and functionality. Inside the building, design elements throughout create a relaxing mood in harmony with nature while also maximizing the use of natural light. At the same time, the interior of the new building bristles with the latest technology, as well as common-sense solutions that increase the efficiency of health care delivery.

The building itself is a blend of style and functionality. The expansive, light and airy lobby area, complete with a suspended sculpture, presents visitors with a feeling not generally associated with a hospital. And that's good.

Understanding that most people coming to a hospital are under stress, Butler Health System officials pressed architects and designers to create a relaxing and comforting environment with many reminders of nature. That directive resulted in the use of natural materials, nature-themed design elements in carpeting and wall coverings and many windows offering views of nearby tree-covered hills.

Beyond the serene environment, the hospital boasts the latest technology in operating rooms, recovery rooms and all other areas of the facility.

Efficiency improvements include a pneumatic tube system for delivering drugs from the pharmacy to the nurses stations on the various floors. Lab test material also is transported via the tube system, saving people multiple trips and, more importantly, allowing health care workers more time to be closer to their patients.

There also are common-sense additions, such as a pass-through system to allow restocking a patient's room with fresh linens or other supplies without having to enter the room and disturb the patient. Modern wireless telephone technology has taken chunky cordless phones out of nurses' pockets and replaced them with a small voice-activated phone worn on a lanyard around the neck.

These and other features of the new facility were the result of multiple visits by hospital personnel, both management and staff workers, to see and evaluate the best ideas from around the country.

Now that many of those ideas have been brought back to Butler in the $152 million project, the community can applaud the hospital administration and board of trustees, both current and past, for their accomplishment.

Several tours of the new building, including Sunday's public tour that included 2,500 people, have allowed the community to see the culmination of a process that began six years ago when the idea of expanding and updating BMH was first being discussed. Despite some acrimonious debate about where the hospital should build and what changes it should incorporate, the open debate and public meetings helped forge some important ideas that now are reflected in the tower — such as all the rooms in the tower being private.

Also, the completion of the new tower puts an exclamation point on the decision by the community and hospital officials a decade or so ago to remain independent, at a time when many other community hospitals were selling out to big-city health systems — a decision many of those now regret.

The extraordinary look and feel of the new tower, combined with cutting-edge technology, will help existing staff do their jobs better and also will serve as a draw to prospective doctors, nurses and other employees looking to work in a state-of-the-art facility, but away from the negatives of a big city environment that can be impersonal and bureaucratic. Already, nearly 250 new employees, including medical and support staff, have been hired as a result of the tower.

BHS has set the bar high as an example of what a smaller, community hospital can and should be. Anyone visiting the new tower, which officially opens Aug. 2, can see and feel that.

Everyone associated with BHS should feel good about what's been accomplished. It speaks well of the capabilities of everyone in BHS, as well as the larger community. And it shows that Butler, even if it's after some heated discussion and debate, can get behind a good idea.

Bravo.