$70M project improves emergency dept., O.R.
Rhode Island Hospital’s $70 million emergency department expansion is on schedule to be completed next month.
When finished, the emergency department and operating room will offer Rhode Islanders a more modern, care-oriented facility, capable of handling the 77,000 patients that seek treatment there annually, the hospital said.
The three-story bridge building was constructed over Dudley Street and attached to the existing hospital, fortified by five, 45-ton steel trusses. The first floor will house the new 51,000-square-foot emergency department, more than doubled from its current size of 21,000 square feet.
The second floor will be the new 30,000-square-foot operating room, with 10 rooms. The third story will be reserved for mechanical systems, according to Fred Maceri, executive vice president of Lifespan.
“We’re going through the inspection process, we’re moving in furniture and equipment, testing all of the building’s systems, for a tentative opening for early April,” he said. “Currently we’re seeing 77,000 patients a year. With this project our total estimate (for capacity) will be 110,000 patients.”
When patients are admitted to the emergency department beginning in April, they will be treated in designated care areas – two new general treatment areas, triage, an expanded trauma center, a chest pain unit, a critical decision area and fast track – equipped and designed to better treat each patient with tools appropriate for their injury. This will be a welcomed replacement of the trauma center and one large treatment area that exists, Maceri said.
The hospital also purchased $5 million worth of up-to-date equipment.
“The technology available is much more tailored to what patients needs are,” Maceri said. “That’s the direction we’re moving toward – more specialized care. It’s the most significant project in the region.” Rhode Island Hospital’s emergency department is one of the busiest in the country and is the only Level 1 trauma center in southeastern New England.
Above the Emergency Department will be a new OR with eight replacement rooms and two new rooms. There will also be 250 parking spaces for patients in the new two-level garage along Dudley Street beyond the bridge building. Once that parking garage opens, Maceri said, the hospital will shut down a portion of a lot between Willard Avenue and Blackstone Street to build another three-deck garage for another 250 cars.
Construction began in October 2002, starting with excavation and foundation pouring to the erection of the steel trusses over Dudley Street in November 2003. The next month, workers began closing the building in, and in February 2004 work began on the interior.
“The fact that we built over the street had its challenges, as well as the trussing system, but it went quite smoothly and we’re pleased with the results,” Maceri said. “We couldn’t get the footprint we needed for modern operating rooms if we had stayed on Dudley Street, so we were able to take advantage of the air over Dudley Street.”
Both OR rooms and emergency department areas have gotten larger over the last 25 years, with most of the technological advances occurring within the last five, he said. With better technology – lasers, imaging equipment, heart pumps, tools for non-invasive surgeries and computers – came the need for more room. The new bridge building and emergency department also have wider corridors and more circulation space for stretchers, equipment and hospital staff, Maceri said.
By the time the building, which was designed by international architects Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc., opens for business, and more than 100 hospital staff will have been hired. The hospital has been involved with a major recruitment for months, and 82 percent of those positions have been filled to date, the Lifespan official said.
In addition to the bridge building, Maceri said the hospital also expanded its power plant to compensate for the larger emergency department and operating rooms, which cost an additional $18.5 million and was completed concurrently with the expansion.
