The St. Clair Healthcare Authority had a celebratory attitude last week as it finished the paperwork authorizing the new St. Vincent’s St. Clair hospital. The final signatures seemed a little late, considering that construction of the hospital began in January. But the hospital’s future has never been in real doubt since the County Commission approved its construction last August. The subsequent agreements, approvals and contracts were all necessary steps leading up to Thursday’s final signing of the authorization documents.

Healthcare Authority board chairman Lawrence Fields called Thursday’s signings “a victory for the people of St. Clair,” and we agree. The new hospital, which will accompany a new VA nursing home to be built in a complex with Jefferson State Community College, will provide medical care for everyone in the county, including those who cannot pay.

“St. Vincent’s operates as a nonprofit; we take people, we don’t ask for their insurance card. We treat them for their health and for their sicknesses, and that’s one of the best things you can do…” Fields said.

The new hospital is expected to cost more than $28 million to build. It will provide construction-related jobs for the next year and ongoing staff jobs for medical professionals after that.

Signing the documents last week was cause for celebration, to be sure, especially for the architects, the contractors, the construction workers who will erect the building. It was a victory of sorts, too, for the county officials who now can move on to other business. The real victory for the people of St. Clair County, however, will come months from now, when the new hospital opens its doors to new patients.

That will be time for a real celebration.