Wednesday, July 09, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – During the expansion and renovation project at Northside Medical Center, emergency department operations were “kind of similar to changing a tire when you’re rolling down the road,” says Neal Tishman, D.O. and chairman of its department of emergency medicine.
A few miles remain on that journey, but officials at Northside and its parent, ValleyCare Health Systems of Ohio, joined community leaders Tuesday morning to cut the ribbon on the new 30,000-square-foot tower that officially opens Monday.
The $20 million project, which also included renovating more than 28,000 square feet of existing hospital space, is part of the $80 million in upgrades to which Nashville-based Community Health Systems Inc. committed itself four years ago when it acquired the principal assets of the former Forum Health Inc.
CHS has put “quite a bit of money” into infrastructure projects such as fire suppression systems and other things “behind the walls and above the ceiling” at Northside, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland, said Kent Brown, interim CEO and chief operating officer of Northside.
“But you don’t really see them like you do this facility,” he continued. “This is probably the largest visible manifestation of that [$80 million] investment.” Other upgrades at ValleyCare facilities are investments in equipment such as robotics at Trumbull, he said.
ValleyCare “is continuing to plan for capital investments to support the delivery of care” across its network but no additional projects are being announced, said Trish Hrina, ValleyCare’s vice president of marketing and public relations.
“It’s time for us to take a small pause and say it is a great day because we are going to be able to improve the health and well-being of the patients we serve with this facility than before we had it,” Brown remarked.
The new tower provides a new main entrance to Northside along with centralized outpatient services as well as an expanded emergency department when the project is completed later this year. The fourth phase of the project, which began last week, includes construction of the new emergency medical services room and the two new trauma rooms. The fifth and final phase is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.
“In terms of us adjusting to the construction, it’s been challenging,” Tishman acknowledged. “We’ve had a limited number of rooms available. There’s been noise. Fortunately there hasn’t been dust.”
Nonetheless, he described the upgrade as “long overdue.” Expansion and updating of the emergency department will expedite and enhance care for the nearly 30,000 patients who go there over the course of a year, he said. All rooms in the emergency department will be private. In addition there will be a “fast-care section” where less-acute patients can be moved through more quickly.
The new trauma rooms will be much larger than those used today, said Michael Smith, director of trauma services. “These rooms are state-of-the-art,” he remarked.
Sandy Kessler, Northside chairman of the board, declared the new building is “spectacular.”
Among those Kessler credited during his remarks were the project contractors, “who worked through this miserable winter” and remained on schedule or close to it.
“This allows our patients easy access to the hospital finally and this first floor will become the hub of the hospital, looking ahead,” he predicted.
“This facility has changed the face of Northside Medical Center in appearance but will also change the way that we deliver health care here as well,” affirmed John Gianetti, M.D. and president of the medical staff at Northside.
Others on hand for the ceremony were Mayor John McNally; Tom Humphries, president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber; 1st Ward Councilwoman Annie Gillam; state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-33 Boardman, and state Rep. Ron Gerberry, D-59 Austintown; and 106.1 FM radio host Jeff Kelly, who two years ago had open heart surgery at Northside and is featured in a series of ads promoting the hospital’s cardiac programs.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition and to our free daily email headlines.