Today I had the pleasure of taking a tour of our new hospital with various media outlets. I was lucky enough they let me tag along for purposes of writing this blog post to share with you all today :) I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about our hospital as it truly is a great asset for our community! Carol Wolfenburg, President of the McDowell Hospital lead us on our tour and it was such a pleasure to meet her! You can tell that she has poured alot of energy and love into this new construction and is proud of what you see today.
As of right now they are planning to open by February 23 2018 but it will likely take until September to finish demolition of the old building, the parking, and areas of the “Terrace Level” of the hospital.
When you go into the current hospital’s Main Entry you will see these large posters of all our past hospitals. Im secretly a history geek so I enjoyed seeing these. Imagine what those people who built the first hospital in 1908 would think of the hospital we have today :) Something neat to think about!
So lets get down to what I learned today about the new facility:
Our current hospital is approximately 80,000 square feet but the new building is around 105,000 square feet(this includes the medical office building). All of the rooms in the new facility are bigger than the current. Reason being… they really wanted to be strategic with room sizes and to allow a place for loved ones to be while in the room with the patient. Also, the equipment now used for a patient is all very mobile and they need space to move around freely with those pieces of equipment. The new room sizes improve patient experience AND safety! Win Win in my book!
The hospital is licensed for 65 beds but they built for 30. There are 25 in patient rooms and 5 birthing suites that make up the 30 total patient rooms throughout hospital.
So in regards to the layout of hospital. There are three different Entrances.
Entrance 1 houses the ER. Within the ER there are a total of 15 rooms. There are actually 3 “safe rooms” for behavioral health patients. In these rooms they have paid special attention to no sharp objects, solid ceilings, down to the type of furniture used. They really have thought of anything you can think of to protect the patients. There are also two very large trauma rooms designed for the ability to house up to two stretchers each. The layout of these two trauma rooms allow for easy access for the nurses and doctors.
Entrance 2 houses the Imaging Suite, Fluoroscopy, CT Room, Digital Radiography, MRI, and chapel.
Entrance 3, named the “Terrace Level” encompasses the medical office building “Mission Clinic” and houses the Infusion Center As Well. “My Care Now” will also be on the Terrace Level.
Some things I noticed while walking around the hospital was that the room sizes really were very nice! When we went into the birthing side of hospital and saw the sizes of those rooms I was so happy to see bigger rooms than what we currently have :) Not too long ago I went to visit a friend in the hospital after having her baby and it was SO cramped. The new room has lots of floor space, a nice sized couch that converts into a bed/eating area, and large bathroom. Those new mamas need to be pampered :)Thank you Mission Health for helping to do just that :)
Another really interesting feature that they have added to the birthing center is the “Smart Room Technology”. With this a patient can pull up entertainment on the screens in their room, info about the community, and pull up parenting education! The technology is also connected to the nurses and doctors badges so when someone walks into the room their photo will show on the screen and the patient will know that is in fact a Mission Health Employee. LOVE THIS extra feature of safety! I also enjoyed viewing the nursery area. There were two very large windows to view all those precious babies in :)
One of the neatest areas I felt like we visited was the surgery center. I was in awe of the surgery room itself. Carol told us that approximately 90% of the surgeries done at our hospital are outpatient. Within the surgery center they have 3 operating rooms and one endoscopy suite. There are three general surgeons on staff.
We finished the tour by going to the future cafeteria. Probably my most favorite feature about the whole place is the outside FIREPLACE off the cafeteria room. I felt like I was at a rustic lodge sitting outside by the fire, enjoying the mountain views :) I think attention to detail like that is so very important. Most the time, when someone is in the hospital, it can be a nerve wracking experience. Its so great that they have added this area of solitude for people to go sit and relax. Very special place!
All in all, Im so glad that I had the opportunity to get an insiders scoop of the entire hospital. We are lucky that we have something like this in our county! We met one of the workers in the elevator and he was asked how long he had been working there on the construction site. Two years he said! This was a HUGE project and quite the undertaking. Its obvious that everyone’s hard work is going to pay off.
