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White Plains Hospital Begins Expansion of ER to Serve 60,000 Patients Yearly
Posted on Monday, May 14 @ 11:33:59 EDT by jfbailey
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WPCNR General Hospital. May 14, 2007: White Plains Hospital Center ceremonially broke ground for a new five-story expansion of their Emergency Department and new services to be opened in autumn, 2009, in an effort to serve the surge of 50,000 patients a year, now being treated by an Emergency Department designed to handle 30,000 annually. The new $9.5 Million expansion will increase patient capacity to 60,000 patients a year, to the ability to serve 38 patients at any given time, mostly in private rooms with express-tracked triage procedures to cut waiting times, and separate areas for serious injuries and conditions, and a special emergency care area for children.
At the groundbreaking ceremony for the new White Plains Hospital Center Emergency Department, were (left to right): Margaret Crilly, RN, Sari Maenza, RN,Nurse Managers, Emergency Medicine; Timothy Haydock, MD, Director WPHC Emergency Medicine; White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino; Jon B. Schandler, President and CEO of the Hospital; Paul M. Weissman, Chairman, Hospital Board of Directors, and Chris Weinberg, member of the Hospital Board.Photo by John Vecchiola, Courtesy White Plains Hospital Center.
Upper left, view South on Post Road. Upper Right, view North on Post Road. Lower center, Emergency Room Entrance. New structure is the fiv story tower at left. Renderings, Courtesy White Plains Hospital Center
The first two floors of the new tower will house the Emergency Department, that will provide care for 38 patients at any given time housing them in private rooms. Children will be cared for separately in the Kylie and Louis R. Cappelli Pediatric Emergency Center on the first floor. Cardiac, stroke and seriously injured patients will be treated in a large critical care area adjacent the ambulance entrance. The ED will also have its own CT scanner in the department.
The third floor of the “Emergency Tower” will house the new cardiac catheterization suite, recently approved for the hospital in fall, 2006. The upper floors, according to Chairman of the Board of the hospital, Paul Weissman are reserved for future hospital expansion.
The Emergency Department private rooms will protect patients from exposures to illness, allow isolation of patients with infectious diseases, and a Decontamination Room at the Ambulance Entrance to handle mass casualties or bio-hazardous conditions. Computers on wheels will be available to provide medical documentation, information retrieval and patient registration.
Mr. Weissman said the $43 Million raised by the Health Care for Life Campaign was being used to fund the Emergency Department expansion, purchase a new cat scanner, and a new linear accelerator, new equipment, and would also fund future expansion on the upper floors of the tower.
One lane of Post Road northbound will be closed during the construction period between Lexington Avenue and Brookfield Street.
The state closings of St. Agnes and United Hospitals in White Plains and Port Chester, respectively, have contributed significantly to the increase in patient traffic that has until recently resulted in up to 3 hour waits for some patients at the White Plains ER which served 46,500 patients in 2006.
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