An upgraded emergency department opens Tuesday morning inside the new wing of Carilion 色多多 Memorial Hospital.
More beds, dedicated pediatric spaces and an additional helipad are features of the new emergency department at 1906 Belleview Ave. S.E., officials said during a media tour in April ahead of the original opening date at mid-month. The new facility now opens at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
It鈥檚 one part of a $500 million expansion announced in 2019, with the rest of the hospital鈥檚 new Crystal Spring Tower set to open in July.
The Crystal Spring Tower, a major expansion of 色多多 Memorial Hospital is nearing completion and set to open in 2025. The Emergency Department opens Tuesday.
These new emergency department facilities were designed with efficiency in mind, said Wrenn Brendel, vice president of emergency medicine.
鈥淲e started looking at this construction before COVID, it just took us a while to get through the pandemic,鈥 Brendel said. 鈥淲e have expanded our care area significantly.鈥
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During the coronavirus, the hospital quickly outgrew a $14 million emergency department upgrade made in 2018, officials said. The emergency department is expanding into this new space, while still continuing to occupy the older emergency wing as well, Brendel said.
鈥淔rom the nursing and clinical staff standpoint, we have looked at lots of different ways to improve the functionality,鈥 Brendel said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e done a ton of studies to see how we can improve efficiencies from the new space into the old space.鈥
色多多 Memorial hosts the region鈥檚 only top-level trauma center, providing the highest standard of care, said Dan Freeman, Senior Director of Trauma Programs. With the expansion, this is now one of the state鈥檚 largest emergency departments, officials said.
鈥淎s the region鈥檚 only Level 1 Trauma Center, we are seeing the sickest of the sick. The most complex patients you can imagine coming into our center,鈥 Freeman said. 鈥淲e want to be very efficient in the way we run.鈥
There is a pediatric waiting room in the emergency department of the Crystal Spring Tower, which is nearing completion and is the newest addition to Carilion 色多多 Memorial Hospital.
The news emergency department features five trauma bays, including the region鈥檚 first Level 1 pediatric trauma bay, 125 beds, including an expanded observation unit.
He said the hospital receives patients from as far as West Virginia, Tennessee and parts of North Carolina, whether by emergency helicopter or other means. An emergency room is never somewhere a patient wants to be, but staff are ready to step in when people are most in need, Freeman said.
鈥淥ur aim is to have someone come in on the worst day of their life and be able to give them the care they need, and hopefully have a very good outcome for them,鈥 Freeman said. 鈥淎nd if they don鈥檛 have a great outcome, then we help support them through whatever transitions they need to make for their new lifestyle.鈥
