Emergency room expansion

A new emergency room expansion is currently under construction at McDonough District Hospital and is scheduled to be finished in late 2015. It is estimated to cost $32 million.

There are bonds that will be paid back by hospital revenue over the next number of years, said John Maguire, Leader of Public Relations and Fund Development at McDonough District Hospital.

There are also donated funds that will be used for the geriatric psych portion. There was a trust gift to the hospital many years ago that was designated to serve seniors and the funds from that gift are being used to pay for that portion of the renovation.

The new expansion will be three stories and will include: 10 large private treatment rooms, a comfort room for family and friends during a crisis situation, relocation of rehabilitation services to the third floor of the new addition, direct access to diagnostic technology and construction of a new geriatric psych wing on the second floor of the new edition.

There is supposed to be substantial completion by June of 2015, Maguire said. There is a specific part of the new structure that is supposed to be ready for patient occupancy and usage no later than July 1, 2015, and thats the new geriatric psych inpatient unit that will be on the second floor.

When it came time to add new space for the emergency room there were some other features that were deemed beneficial to add, Maguire said. The geriatric psychiatric unit will be inpatient care for people who are 65 or older who may have mental illness issues that need to be addressed in an inpatient setting. The third floor of the new addition will enable to take our services for rehabilitation and physical therapy that are currently in the basement and move them to the third floor, which will allow them a better physical space for that type of activity.

Currently the emergency patient entrance will be rerouted to the hospital main entrance.

The current emergency main entrance we are using can be inconvenient at times; it can get a bit crowded, but it will be better once the new expansion is finished, said Eric Mccleery, a paramedic for McDonough District Hospital. The new expansion will allow for a lot more patient privacy.

There will also be other new changes coming with the construction of this new expansion, which includes renovations of current rooms to private, single patient rooms, relocation of the heliport pad, expansion of the parking lot and changing the traffic flow to two-way.

Our current emergency room is what I would describe as an open area, which means there is no audio privacy, Maguire said. If Im treated in bed one, the only thing that separates me from bed two is a curtain and if you dont want to know what your neighbor is having done or you dont want them to know what youre having done, patient privacy is non-existent. Logistically, the setup needs to be modernized. In order to do that and to keep your current emergency room running, you need to add new space.

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Emergency room expansion