Grand Opening of the New Emergency and Trauma Center at The Medical Center
WHAT: The Medical Center will host a grand opening and dedication ceremony of Phase I of the new Emergency and Trauma. This ceremony is open to the public.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 2.
TIME: Ceremony begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by tours of the new facility.
ABOUT THE NEW FACILITY:
On March 3rd, the Emergency and Trauma Center will begin serving patients exclusively in the new space, while the existing Emergency Department will begin renovation for Phase II of the $25 million project. That renovation project is expected to be completed during the fall of 2011.
The new Emergency and Trauma Center is a 23,668 square-foot facility that will house 41 patient treatment rooms, including 12 “fast-track” rooms for rapid medical evaluation, 23 general treatment rooms, six trauma rooms, two digital x-ray rooms and a computerized tomography (CT) scanner dedicated to serving patients in the Emergency and Trauma Center. The groundbreaking for this project occurred on Oct. 14, 2009 and Phase I of the project took 16 months to complete.
Phase II will renovate the existing Emergency Department, which currently houses 34 treatment bays in 14,500 square feet of space. Once renovated, the space will add 5 observation rooms, as well as new offices and support areas to serve the new Emergency and Trauma Center. The combined space will total 38,168 square feet and will increase the size of the existing Emergency Department by 160 percent.
“We are excited that we are able to expand the emergency services we offer to the region,” said Dr. Andrew Williams, medical director of Emergency Services at The Medical Center. “The expanded space and additional treatment rooms will enable us to enhance the care we provide to our patients and will position us to meet the needs of our growing community.”
The Medical Center serves four Georgia counties in its primary and secondary service areas of Muscogee, Harris, Talbot and Marion counties and an additional nine counties in southwest Georgia in its role as a Level II trauma center. It is the only trauma center in southwest Georgia and one of only 15 in the state. The Emergency and Trauma Center at The Medical Center also serves parts of east Alabama.
Approximately 40 percent of admissions to The Medical Center originate in the Emergency Department. The Medical Center recorded 54,780 emergency visits in Fiscal Year 2010 (July 2009-June 2010). Of those, 913 were classified as trauma.
“The number of admissions from the Emergency Department to the hospital has continued to increase,” Williams said. “This indicates patients are coming to the Emergency Department with more severe conditions than in the past. They typically require longer treatment time for stabilization and increased use of resources within the Emergency Department before they can be transferred to a patient floor.” The new Emergency and Trauma Center at The Medical Center will better accommodate these patients and others, he added.
