Here’s a look at how some medical center services will shift as a result of the renovation, scheduled for completion in 2014:
• Operating room suites will be renovated, and all operating room functions will be consolidated on the second floor.
• Administrative and support functions — including education and training — will be consolidated on the fifth floor and in the basement.
• The kitchen and cafeteria will be modernized.
• The facility’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing and medical gas systems will be replaced.
• Resident areas will move from the fifth to the third floor.
“While the construction’s going on, we’re going to do what we can to make the experience as good as possible,” White said. “There will be inconveniences.”
The renovation is the third phase of a program known as “Gateway to Care.”
The first phase, which cost $16 million and was finished in 2006, focused on the “outpatient experience.” It consolidated the medical center’s clinics, renovated the atrium and moved the pharmacy.
The second phase, which cost $18 million and was finished in November, focused on the hospital’s inpatient units. Rooms with multiple beds were converted to single rooms, with the capability to add a bed per room if the need arises. The emergency room was renovated and modernized.
Wright-Patterson Medical Center employs about 2,000 people. Its residents and technology are important resources for the region’s nonprofit civilian hospitals in the absence of a public hospital, said Bryan Bucklew of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.
About the Author