Hospital officials with the Santa Rosa Medical Center invited public officials from throughout the county in order to celebrate an expansion which has long been needed to the Milton hospital, located on Berryhill Road.
CLICK HERE: To view conceptual art of the new Santa Rosa Medical Center emergency department expansion, including a floor plan.
“I have been with the Santa Rosa Medical Center for about 11 years and they have been talking about it for about 15 or 20 years,” said SRMC Chief Nursing Officer Trish Davis. “It’s a long time coming.”
The hospital’s new Chief Executive Officer Doug Sills, also shared his perspective on the needed expansion at Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony.
“We see 33,000 people a year in this little ER,” Sills said. “Some may come in here more than once, but effectively everyone in this zip code visits this ER once a year. So this is long overdue.”
More than 13,000 square feet will be added to the hospital in the expansion which is estimated to cost $7.3 million. Sills said the project will more than double the current square footage utilized by the emergency department. The expansion will be constructed adjacent to the hospital’s current emergency department.
According to a SRMC press release, the expansion will include 17 all-private exam rooms in which four will be designated for patients with minor injuries or illnesses – three private triage rooms including a bereavement and consultation room. The expansion will also have a negative-pressure isolation room for highly contagious patients and a decontamination room for hazardous materials.
The hospital’s staff will also benefit from a centralized check-in desk and private patient discharge areas, according to the statement. The expansion will also include medication and nutrition rooms, a physician dictation room, a EMS lounge and a spacious waiting room.
“There has been a lot of hard work going into it; about a year of planning,” Davis said.
With the first phase of construction about to begin, the 12 month project will take place over the next 12 months. Sills anticipates having the new ER facility open for incoming patients early next year.
“We should be seeing new patients in the new ER by February 1,” Sills said. “After that we will take the current emergency room and refurbish it and use it for support services.”
Sills said the construction will not hinder the hospital’s regular ER operation.
“We will not stop seeing patients, we will move from the old section right into the new section,” he said.
The project would also impact the local economy by hiring more than 100 construction jobs and once the project is completed the hospital will need additional medical staff. Especially with the increasing number of patients visiting the hospital’s ER, officials said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: SRMC: Hospital officials celebrate ER expansion with Groundbreaking (PHOTOS, VIDEO)