Maricopa has its first hospital.

Exceptional Community Hospital-Maricopa opened its doors today, bringing a local hospital to the city for the first time. Exceptional received its license Monday and the doors swung open at 7 a.m. today for care.

Exceptional Community Hospital-Maricopa is located in the heart of the community on State Route 347 just south of the overpass. The 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility includes nine in-patient rooms and eight emergency room treatment rooms allowing those sick or injured in town to receive emergency treatment here rather than facing a half hour hospital ride to Chandler or Casa Grande.

The primary feature of the hospital is a 24-hour emergency department, but it also includes a specialty internal medicine hospital, an in-house laboratory, and a digital imaging suite with CT Scan, X-Ray, mobile MRI and ultrasound.