Building for Life’s Emergencies
Our latest expansion project will take place off the north side of the Medical Center. The approximate 14,000 square foot expansion will provide for the new Emergency Department, Triage Area, Waiting Room, as well as EMS and Ambulance quarters. Additional space will be built for our growing Specialty Clinics area and these rooms convert easily to patient overflow rooms when extreme situations arise in our Emergency Department. A new docking area will provide the necessary accommodations for both MRI and Nuclear Medicine services.
As part of the project, a 9,000 square-foot basement will be added to allow the Billing Department and other non-clinical departments to locate to the lower level of our main building at some time in the future.
The current Emergency Department has six beds with an annual volume of approximately 13,000 patients. This is the most important service we provide which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many times this is the first contact patients and families have with Eaton Rapids Medical Center and is the catalyst for future visits. A new Emergency Department will allow us to correct deficiencies that have developed with the increase in volumes we have experienced over the past several years. With the additions of our new Emergency Department, we will be able to:
· Improve patient privacy by giving patients their own room
· Separate patients waiting for Emergency care from the general public
· Increase from 6 beds to 10 beds which will meet our growing patient volumes
· Create a designated decontamination room with a separate entryway
· Develop a private space for physicians and staff to handle confidential matters such as patient phone calls, charting, and consultations
· Improve security and safety for patients and staff during disruptive situations
· Create a break area for staff who are unable to leave the department during the course of their shift