Digging Out and Building Up

Over the last few months, we’ve undertaken two new projects on our first and third floors.  We recently opened a new operating room, and a second new operating room will be outfitted within the next year, bringing our total to six ORs.  “Having additional ORs will provide the surgeons with the opportunity to schedule their surgical procedures sooner, thus allowing us to provide care to our patients in a more efficient and timely manner,” said Gina Steele, Director of Perioperative Services. 

We’ve also begun a third floor build-out, which will be completed in February 2009.  This project will add 15 more patient beds to the Telemetry Unit, bringing the total patient beds to 129.

Even more exciting, we will soon embark on a much larger expansion, to be completed in 2012 – just in time to help us ring in our 100th anniversary.  This project will include aesthetic enhancements, more patient beds and a new hospital entrance, facing Route 245.  The existing entrance will become a new outpatient entryway.  Many departments will also expand during this project, including the Emergency Department, which will grow from 30 to 53 bays. 

Here are a few of our other recent happenings:

• An imaging suite dedicated solely to providing radiology services for ECC patients is complete.  For Emergency Department patients requiring X-rays, this equates to faster turnaround time. 
• Both the new 64-slice CT scanner and new MRI equipment have been successfully installed near the Emergency Care Center. 
• The Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) room has been constructed.
• An additional Fast Track room is available for patients.
• A specialized decontamination room has been added for patient safety.
• A wider ambulance bay was opened to give emergency medical personnel better access to handle a mass casualty incident.

As progress continues, we look forward to sharing our news with you.