In April 1978, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for The Health Center at Rosewood. The wind and threat of rain forced a last-minute move of the event indoors. Some 400 residents, friends, and community leaders attended the event, with Walter Heisey, chairman of the board of managers, presiding. Among others taking part in the ceremony were Rosewood Gardens administrator, John H. Benedict; Richard E. Ice, ABHOW president; Agnes Gruman, president of the Resident Council; Bakersfield Mayor Don Hart; the Rev. Charles A. Wilkinson, secretary of the board of managers; and the Rev. John H. Marshall, pastor of the University Baptist Church of Bakersfield. Following the groundbreaking ceremony, a deep-pit barbecue was served by the Resident Council.

The 66-bed Health Center was designed by architect Martin Temple and built by contractor Hollis Sons, Fresno firms. John H. Benedict, the Rosewood Gardens administrator, stated that the facility would not be "just another convalescent hospital," but rather personal nursing care would be dispensed from three nurse-charting stations. Provided was a resident dining room, three resident lounges, a therapy room, and other innovative features in health care, together with a pleasant atmosphere. In February 1979, in advance of the opening of The Health Center, Arleen Panick, RN, became the director of nursing services, and she began to interview candidates for the nursing staff. The Health Center opened in April, but the dedication was delayed until June, during the semi-annual meeting of the board of trustees of ABHOW, scheduled for Bakersfield.

Presiding over the dedicatory service for The Health Center held in June 1979 were Roy E. Hughes, chairman of the board of trustees of ABHOW, and Walter F. Heisey, chairman of the board of managers of Rosewood Gardens. After an invocation by the Rev. Charles Wilkinson of the board of managers, Richard Ice, ABHOW president, explained the role of The Health Center, followed by an address by the Rev. J. Scott Houston, president of the American Association of Homes for the Aging. Participating in a "ceremony of the keys" were Martin Temple, architect; Hollis Sons, contractor; Richard E. Ice, ABHOW president; and John H. Benedict, the administrator of Rosewood Gardens. A litany of dedication was delivered by the executive minister of the American Baptist Churches/Pacific Southwest, the Rev. W. Lowell Fairley. A prayer of dedication by the Rev. Steven M. Garner, vice president of ABHOW, was followed by a benediction by the Rev. John A. Lavender, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bakersfield.

When construction of The Health Center was completed, the Jackson Perkins Company donated bushes for a rose garden in front of that building, as well as bushes for a garden in the circular area surrounding the flagpole in front of the high-rise.