(Posted June 12, 2016)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
Madison Health is embarking on a major expansion and renovation project at a cost of $25 million to $27 million.
“We are growing. We are seeing a lot more patients, and it’s been a while since we invested in modernizing the facility, which makes now the right time to invest in the future,” said Dana Engle, CEO.
Construction of a 24,000 square-foot expansion will start in the spring of 2017 and take 18 to 24 months to complete. The two-story addition on the front of the hospital will house a new emergency department (ER) on the first floor and a cancer center and offices for medical specialists on the second floor.
Since changing processes to reduce wait times, Madison Health has seen its ER patient count increase by 30 percent in two years. The new 12,000 square-foot ER will triple the hospital’s space dedicated to emergency care.
“Our current ER was built almost 20 years ago, and ER care has changed a lot in that time,” Engle said.
The existing ER does not have private rooms; patients are separated by curtains between beds. The new ER will feature private rooms, allowing patients to discuss sensitive topics privately, allowing for more family members to accompany patients, reducing the risk of cross-contamination, and providing more bedside space for portable medical equipment.
Patient numbers also are driving the need for the new cancer center, which will include private space for 12 oncology stations, an increase over the current set-up, and more convenient patient access.
“We partnered with The James about a year-and-a-half-ago and since then have seen a steady increase in patients coming here for oncology and cancer care. We need the new space to keep up with the growth and to stay efficient,” Engle said.
The convenience of care close to home is the reason Madison Health is setting aside space in the addition for offices for medical specialists. The plan is to draw more doctors to London from the hospital’s alliance partners, Ohio State University and Mount Carmel.
After the expansion is complete, the hospital will move on to the renovation phases, which include connecting the Park Avenue Medical building to the main hospital and reallocation of space for an improved layout. Patients will have private rooms before and after surgery, and upgrades are planned for inpatient rooms. Also planned are upgrades to the hospital’s heating, cooling and mechanical systems.
All totaled, the expansion and renovations will take four to five years to complete. Madison Health hired Bob Waldeck as vice president of strategy and construction management to oversee the project. He has been an executive with The Quandel Group, Hplex Solutions, OhioHealth and Mount Carmel.
To help pay for the project, the hospital will launch a $6 million Building On Excellence capital campaign later this year. The remainder of the cost will be financed.
“The community support of the hospital, with more people coming to us for care in the past few years, has put us in a good financial position to go out and secure financing to be able to do this,” Engle said.
Madison Health, originally built 54 years ago, is located at 210 N. Main St., London.
