Ribbon cutting ceremony this afternoon for new Camp Pendleton hospital

CAMP PENDLETON - A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled this afternoon for the $456 million hospital at Camp Pendleton.

The four-story Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton began operations last month, following three years of construction adjacent Interstate 5.

The 500,000-square-foot facility replaced a much smaller medical center. It was the largest Navy project funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and designed to accommodate wounded warriors and the families of Marines and sailors stationed at Pendleton.

The guest speakers for the 1 p.m. ceremony will be Mike McCord, principal deputy under secretary of defense; Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs; Lt. Gen. John Toolan, the commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force; and Rear Adm. C. Forrest Faison, deputy surgeon general of the Navy.

They will be joined by military and civilian personnel involved with the project.