It was cramped and outdated, but for some people, saying goodbye to the old eight-story Valleywise Health Medical Center − often known as “County” to locals and “The Copa” to employees − wasn’t easy.
A bright green wrecking ball took several swings before smashing a hole in the shuttered central Phoenix hospital June 26 in a symbolic ending to a building that opened Feb. 27, 1971, as Maricopa County General Hospital.
A new hospital, which opened in 2024, sits next to the old one, which is one reason why there won’t be any explosives used to tear down the older building…