What nurses should know about the new W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah

What should nurses know about the new W.W. Hastings Hospital?

The Cherokee Nation’s news release on the hospital’s completion, which we read on November 12, 2026, says the new W.W. Hastings Hospital cost $470 million and opened to patients at 6 AM on Saturday, July 11, 2026. It has 127 beds. It stands on the tribe’s health campus at 19780 E. Ross St. in Tahlequah. The building has six floors and about 400,000 square feet, which is more than double the old hospital’s 180,000.

We run an RV park, so we cannot say what a shift on the unit feels like. What we can do is lay out the published facts and point out where the sources disagree. If you are still choosing between Pryor and Tahlequah, our guide to travel nursing in northeast Oklahoma covers the hospitals in the region.

Figures come from the Cherokee Nation’s completion news release and its hospital page.

What is inside the building?

The tribe’s inpatient care page lists the hospital as open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The current services it names are the emergency department, an intensive care unit, a step down unit, acute care, pediatric inpatient services, OB and newborn care, inpatient and outpatient surgery, inpatient dialysis, pharmacy, laboratory and radiology. It also lists a stroke program as a Certified Primary Stroke Center and a helipad, and the news release puts that helipad on the roof.

A second floor bridge joins the hospital to the Cherokee Nation Outpatient Health Center next door, so staff and patients can cross the campus without going outside.

KGOU’s July 13, 2026 report lists a NICU and hospice care among the new hospital’s services.

Are the NICU and hospice open yet?

We cannot say. The KGOU report from July 13, 2026 lists a NICU and hospice care among the hospital’s services. The tribe’s own inpatient care page, read the same day we read the news release, shows the NICU and hospice under planned services. We do not know which is current.

If you work in neonatal care or hospice, do not build a contract decision on a unit that may still be opening. Ask your agency or the hospital’s staffing office whether the unit is open now and how many beds it has. Get the answer in writing.

How many nurses are they hiring?

The Cherokee Nation says nearly 700 healthcare staff work at the hospital now and about 200 more employees will be added in fiscal year 2027. The release does not say how many of the 200 are nurses or how many might be contract staff, or when in the fiscal year the hiring happens. We will not guess at calendar months.

That number is a plan. We are an independent RV park with no tie to the hospital or to the Cherokee Nation, and we cannot tell you who is hiring or promise anyone a contract. Your recruiter or the hospital’s careers page can tell you which roles are open this month.

The tribe plans to turn the old hospital into a $30 million Nursing and Allied Health Education Center with the University of Oklahoma. The release says it will open in 2027 and house an OU College of Nursing satellite campus. KGOU says the aim is to help with a projected shortage of nearly 6,000 registered nurses in Oklahoma by 2038.

Does Hastings use travel nurses?

We could not find a source we can cite on whether Hastings uses travel nurses.

Ask your agency which hospitals it staffs in Tahlequah. Northeastern Health System, also in Tahlequah, and Hillcrest Hospital Pryor are separate employers with their own hiring, and an agency may place you at one and not another. Our guide for northeast Oklahoma nurses lists the other two hospitals with the drive times we have measured.

How far is Hastings from Lake Hudson RV Park?

We have not measured it. What we have measured on Google Maps is the drive from our park to Northeastern Health System in Tahlequah: 27.4 miles and about 35 minutes. Hastings is in the same city, but we will not guess at the difference. Call us at (918) 373-9216 with your shift start and we will look up the route with you before you sign anything.

Times are Google Maps estimates. Your own trip at your own shift hour is the number that counts.

If your contract is at Hastings, you are weighing a longer commute against a lower monthly cost. Some nurses take that trade for the lower monthly cost. Others want to live ten minutes from the unit, and for them we are the wrong park. We would rather say that on the phone than have you find out in week two.

Is there anything the Cherokee Nation has done in Salina?

Yes. The same news release says the tribe has invested about $1.12 billion in healthcare facilities and equipment over the past decade, and the total includes about $270 million in expanded health centers in Stilwell, Muskogee, Vinita, Ochelata, Jay and Salina. We do not know the details of the Salina work, and we do not know whether it affects hiring. The release names Salina among the towns that got expanded health centers.

The release also says the Cherokee Nation runs the largest tribal health system in the United States, with 12 facilities and more than 3 million patient services a year. Those figures are the tribe’s own, and we repeat them as published.

What happened to the old Hastings hospital building?

The old hospital went up in the mid 1980s and covered about 180,000 square feet, which makes it less than half the size of its replacement. The Cherokee Nation’s release says the tribe plans to remodel it into the Nursing and Allied Health Education Center described above, as part of its 21st Century Cherokee Healthcare Workforce Initiative.

Ground broke on the new building in April 2023, so the project took a little over three years from first dirt to first patient. Childers Architects and Foreman Manhattan Construction oversaw the work, according to the release. If you worked in the old building on an earlier contract, expect a very different layout on your first day.

What does the Cherokee Nation’s health system look like around Hastings?

The release describes the Cherokee Nation as the largest tribe in the United States with the largest tribal health system. It lists 12 facilities: nine outpatient health centers, one employee health center, one tribal hospital and one outpatient and emergency health center. The Cherokee Nation Outpatient Health Center, which connects to Hastings by the second floor bridge, cost about $200 million according to the same release.

The tribe also cites a 2025 report that found its health services generated more than $2 billion in statewide economic output in fiscal year 2025 and supported nearly 11,500 Oklahoma jobs. Those are the tribe’s figures, and we cannot check them. They do show how large an employer the health system is in this part of the state.

How do you find housing for a 13 week contract in Tahlequah?

Housing is yours to sort out unless your agency arranges it. The steps are about the same for any hospital.

1. Get the facts from your agency first: your unit, your shift, your start date and how many weeks the contract runs.
2. Ask whether the agency pays a housing stipend and how it is paid, because that number sets your budget.
3. Look up the drive from any place you are considering to the hospital’s address at the hour of your shift, and compare it with the Google Maps estimate.
4. Ask each place for its monthly price in writing, including utilities, so you can compare real totals.
5. Ask about the rig age rule if you are towing or driving an RV, and send photos early if your rig is older.
6. Call a park with your start date and your rig length, and book the site before you pack.

A drive that takes 35 minutes at noon can feel different at 5:30 in the morning in January, and a night nurse coming off a 12 hour shift is on the road at 7 AM when the school buses and farm trucks are out.

What does 13 weeks cost at our park?

Thirteen weeks is about three months, so we price it that way. Monthly sites at our park are $300 to $450 plus electric, and most guests pay about $100 a month for electric. Electric is billed by use and runs about $30 to $200 a month, so heavy air conditioning in July costs more than a mild week in March. A $100 deposit is due once we approve your stay.

Budget sites are smaller and have no room for a boat. Electric is billed by use, so your total can be lower or higher.

Our nightly rate is $47, which would come to $4,277 over 91 nights, so a monthly site is the better fit for a 13 week stay.

What if your start date slips?

Contract start dates move. A credentialing step runs long, or a unit pushes your first shift back a week. A week at our nightly rate of $47 comes to $329, and you can move to a monthly site once the date is firm. Nothing says you must commit to a month before the contract is real.

A phone call at (918) 373-9216 is the quickest way to reserve, since we can ask your rig length and dates and answer right then. The form on our site works as well. We approve your stay before asking for the $100 deposit, so you do not pay to learn whether we have room.

Can you bring a dog and a truck?

Dogs are welcome at our park when their owner is with them. A 13 week contract is long to spend without the dog, and a gravel road beside the trees is a better walk than a motel parking lot.

A typical site is about 35 feet wide and 120 feet deep, which leaves room for a tow vehicle beside the rig and often for a boat. Budget sites are smaller and have no room for a boat. Tell us what you are pulling when you call, and we will match you to a site that fits.

What should you ask before you accept a Hastings contract?

A new hospital changes a few things a travel nurse cares about, and the published facts do not answer them. Before you sign, put these questions to your recruiter and, where you can, to the unit manager. Write the answers down, because a promise made on a phone call is hard to find in week six.

• Is the unit I am hired for open now, and how many beds is it staffed for today?
• What is my first day, and is orientation paid or part of the contract hours?
• Which badge, parking and check in steps come before my first shift?
• How are shifts and floating handled in the new building?
• Does the contract pay a housing stipend, and is it paid weekly or at the end?

Nobody expects a recruiter to know every answer. A good one will say so and go find out.

What does the morning drive look like from our park?

The arithmetic is simple, and it is worth doing before you commit. If a day shift starts at 7 AM and the drive is about 35 minutes, you leave the park by 6:10 to allow time to park and clock in. A night shift that starts at 7 PM means a 6:10 PM departure, and a 7 AM end means you are back at your rig around 8 AM, ready to sleep through the morning.

We measured 35 minutes to Northeastern Health System, and we have not measured it to Hastings, so use that figure as a starting point. Run the route yourself at the hour you will drive it.

A nurse coming off a night shift wants the drive home to end somewhere calm. Lacy H., who stayed about a year, wrote:

Is it quiet enough to sleep after a 12 hour night?

Sleep is the first worry for anyone who works nights. Most of our guests stay by the month, so the people next to you are the same ones next week. We ask everyone to drive slowly on the gravel. A night nurse who sleeps from 8 in the morning is the reason that rule matters.

Tre N. wrote:

We have an on site storm shelter and laundry, with management on site and WiFi available. If you work from your rig on days off, ask us about the connection before you book.

What does our park offer a nurse?

We are between Salina and Locust Grove, 18 minutes and 13.6 miles from Hillcrest Hospital Pryor and about 35 minutes and 27.4 miles from Northeastern Health System in Tahlequah. Our 67 full hookup sites all have 30 and 50 amp service, and a typical site is about 35 feet wide and 120 feet deep. Seven are lake view sites at $450 a month and 50 are wooded at a flat $350. Ten budget sites start at $300. All are plus electric.

Before you call, check your rig’s age. We take RVs that are 10 years old or newer, and an older one goes through a photo review, so send pictures when you call. Our post on the 10 year rule at RV parks explains why parks use one. Dogs are welcome when their owner is with them. We have 4.7 stars from 57 Google reviews.

Our page on travel nurse housing near Pryor has the details for a contract, and our page on monthly RV sites shows the three site types.

What should you bring for the first week?

Bring a surge protector and a water pressure regulator. On day one, write down the electric meter reading so your first bill has a starting number.

Then do something that has nothing to do with the hospital. Walk down to the two public Lake Hudson boat ramps, about half a mile from our park, and look at the water.

Can you stay through a winter contract?

People do. Many guests stay through the cold months, and our post on living in an RV full time in Oklahoma covers what that looks like week to week. If your rig has never been through a freeze, call us before the first hard freeze and we will talk through your setup.

Storm season comes in spring, and sirens are common in Mayes County. We have an on site storm shelter. Our post on storm season for RV owners walks through what to do before and during a warning.

Two mistakes to avoid when you plan a Tahlequah contract

One mistake is picking housing by distance alone. A short drive on paper can turn into a long one if a road is closed or a bridge has traffic, and a park farther away can have a better price and a better night’s sleep.

The other is leaving housing until the week before, so call early. If this is your first move to the state, our first month checklist for moving to Mayes County covers the paperwork side.