White River Medical Center has seen an increase in emergency-room visits in recent years. The emergency room, which was built more than 30 years ago, is too small to handle the increase with ease, so the medical center is receiving a face-lift to expand the emergency room by 5,000 square feet.
Gary Bebow, CEO of the White River Health System, said construction on the ER began in December, and so far, the work that has taken place has been hidden from patients.
“It’s our intent to make this project as little patient-disruptive as possible,” he said. “You’ve got to balance the convenience and the time. … It’ll be worth it once it’s complete.”
Bebow said the success of the emergency room depends on three major factors: employees, technology and the facility. The technology has been updated, and Bebow said he thinks very highly of the employees, so it is time to focus on updating the facility.
“The emergency room is really the front door to the hospital for the community,” he said.
The current emergency
room was built in 1985. While it was constructed with the ability to adjust to increased visits, the need for more space has finally reached the point where an expansion is necessary.
“We built the emergency room we’re in right now with the intent to see 20,000 visits per year,” Bebow said. “Last year, we saw just short of 30,000 visits. The space that was built for 20,000 visits isn’t adequate to handle the larger volumes.”
Bebow said the size of the rooms is inadequate because medical care has changed over the years.
“There’s just more equipment and more people treating our patients,” he said.
The newly expanded facility will be equipped to handle up to 35,000 visits per year. Once finished, the emergency room will include the space where the current ER sits, plus the space where Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the Ambulatory Care Center used to be located.
“Both of these services were relocated outside of the hospital,” Bebow said. “We’ve held those spaces for this expansion.”
The construction is expected to be finished in October with a price tag of $5 million. Bebow said Clark Contractors and Cromwell Architects have been working on the project, and a lot of the labor is being done by medical-center employees.
“The good news about this project is that a lot of the work is being done by our internal construction staff,” Bebow said. “That gives us some flexibility. If they are unable to work on the project because it’s busy in the emergency room, we can send them away to another area.”
In addition to the indoor changes to the emergency room, Bebow said, the entrance will be renovated to help patients get inside with ease.
“We’re going to redo the traffic patterns for people to access the emergency rooms,” he said. “There’s going to be a covered area so they won’t have to brave the elements. We want to improve patient flow inside and outside.”
As the project continues, the White River Health System staff will communicate information through social media to keep patients, visitors, physicians, volunteers and employees informed on the construction’s progress and potential disruptions.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.