Certainly, the new, four-floor building is beautiful, reflecting the latest in design of such a facility. As I walked around, other visitors frequently commented on the size of the patient rooms and the wonderful views of the outside.
The new hospital also includes the latest state-of-the-art patient care and technology. Staffers told me about the computerized patient information system, complete with vital data relayed to numerous nurses’ stations located near patient rooms, and a wide array of information for the patients on large screens in those rooms.
The Emergency Room will be open 24 hours a day, and features four trauma rooms plus 41 private rooms (no more cubicles and curtains). Nearby is Express Care for less serious conditions. Outside is the heated helipad and sidewalk (also heated) leading to the ER.
Also on the first floor is the Diagnostic Center, Pediatrics, Dialysis, Phlebotomy, Medical/Surgical North rooms, Rehabilitation Unit, Information Desk and Registration, coffee and gift shops.
The second floor includes the Intensive Care, ICU Step-Down Units, Cardiovascular Care Units, Surgery, Catheterization Lab and chapel.
Up on the third floor is the Birthing Center with six triage rooms and a “Mother-Baby Unit” and waiting area, Medical/Surgical North and East rooms, respiratory therapy, spiritual care and volunteer room. The fourth floor contains more Medical/Surgical rooms.
The lower level — called the Garden level — will house the cafeteria, laboratory, pharmacy, administration, classroom and a variety of offices, with an outdoor dining and gathering area. It also contains one of my favorite things — a historic time line detailing the history of hospitals and health care in Springfield from 1880 to the present.
The Community Health Foundation Pavilion spans the first, second and third floors, and will be the site of reproductive services and “seamless patient care.” Also there is something that caught my interest: Many historical artifacts from the previous hospitals and the School of Nursing — things such as an elevator indicator and light fixtures, columns, a bronze radiator grille, a stone panel, a donor plaque and the medallion from the Community Hospital doctors’ entry.
The next big milestone will be the effort to move patients into the new facility on Nov. 13. At 6 a.m. that day, the current Emergency Department at the High Street Campus will close and reopen at the new hospital.
Contact me at darryl.bauer@ cmgohio.com.
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