ED Expansion Taking Shape
ED EXPANSION, PATIENT ROOM ADDITION CLOSE
TO REACHING MILESTONES
COVINGTON - A new ambulance entrance followed by the opening of a temporary pedestrian entrance are among the milestones St. Tammany Parish Hospital expects to achieve this summer on the expansion of its Emergency Department and addition of the 3 North patient unit.
Completion of internal renovations and a shift in public parking for the Emergency Department to a lot across 11th Street from the hospital are other changes patients and visitors will see in the months ahead, says Support Services Project Manager Randy Willett.
The two-and-a-half year, $21 million construction project that began in late 2013 will add 8,600 square feet to the Emergency Department. The work will create new, specialized areas for pediatric, mental health and geriatric emergency services, and trauma care.
STPH continues to offer emergency patient care without disruption throughout the construction period and has seen patient satisfaction scores actually rise during the progress.
Driven by continuing rapid population growth on the Northshore, the hospital is also adding all-private rooms as part of a third-floor patient unit, known as 3 North. Altogether, the expansion will add 10 beds for emergency services and 21 new all-private rooms.
A construction crane that hovered over the hospital campus throughout the spring will complete its role in installing steel beams for the new 3 North unit. Work now shifts to enclosing 3 North, which is set for completion in 2015.
The new Emergency Department ambulance entrance is now open, Willett said, while the shift in public parking will coincide with the opening of the temporary walk-in entrance on the east side of the hospital this summer. Work on a permanent walk-in entrance for the Emergency Department will begin this fall.
The shift in parking is a change that will remain in place even after a new pedestrian entrance to the Emergency Department is completed in 2015, Willett says. Emergency Department patients and their families will still be able to use a patient drop-off site adjacent to the ED.
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A full-service acute care facility committed to providing world-class healthcare and the latest technology, St. Tammany Parish Hospital delivers today’s life-improving procedures with the utmost care to area residents with emphasis on wellness, preventive care and disease management close to home. STPH is a self-supporting not-for-profit community hospital; it receives no tax funding. STPH.org