Marksville, La.-based Avoyelles Hospital has embarked on a $25 million expansion and renovation project, NBC and CBS affiliate KALB reported Nov. 16.
It will be the largest private investment in the town in the last century.
The hospital serves 46,000 patients and has had few upgrades since it opened in 1938, according to the report.
Hospital and city officials hope the changes will draw more physicians and specialists to the rural area to improve quality of care.
"If you go and you look at the demographics, all of our markets have been shrinking," Rock Bordelon, president and CEO of Allegiance Health Management, which owns Avoyelles, told the news outlet. "It is our goal to bring in more specialists and primary care doctors back to these markets so that we can have good solid healthcare."