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Asante Rogue Regional’s Emergency Department opened 10 new exam rooms on Thursday as a $5 million, three-phase expansion wraps up after almost a year of construction.
“This expansion was critical to making sure our patients get the care they need when they need it,” says ARRMC CEO Mick Zdeblick.
The completion means the ED will once again be accessible from inside the hospital at the north lobby and the tents occupying the parking lot will be taken down.
The new rooms were built where admitting and blood draw used to be, near the large glass wall in the north lobby. Admitting has been relocated to the south entrance (where Employee Health used to be) until the new pavilion is built, and blood draw has moved to new rooms closer to Imaging.
The ED expansion includes three rooms that can be converted for behavioral health patients. A garage door drops down to cover equipment and any ligatures that might pose a hazard to someone in crisis.
There is also an added isolation room with negative airflow for patients with respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19, and a special bathroom and an exam room for people of size. This exam room is equipped with a lift that can handle up to 1,100 pounds and is mobile throughout the room, even down to the floor, according to project manager Jason Rehder.
The expansion also includes a nursing station and direct access to the rest of the ED. Triage rooms were expanded from three to five earlier in the project, and the security station was moved to another location within the ED.
The now 40-room Emergency Department at ARRMC handles 45,000 to 50,000 visits a year and includes a four-room psychiatric crisis unit.
As part of Asante’s continued efforts to provide high-quality emergency care to a nine-county region, the Emergency Department at Asante Three Rivers was doubled last year. The $12.7 million expansion gave ATRMC’s ED 30 beds, a six-bed triage bay, two “hold rooms” and four “flex rooms” for behavioral health patients, a larger waiting room and 29 clinical work stations. A helipad is also being built, meaning emergency helicopters will no longer have to land in the street to transport patients to ATRMC.
“We’re here to serve the community and take care of the general population and provide the best care we can,” says Christopher David, MD, medical director of Emergency Services at ATRMC. “This is going to help tremendously.”
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For the patients of size, I did not read that gurneys to accommodate this patient population were included in the upgrade.