St. Joseph Healthcare is in the planning stages to modernize its emergency department. Recently, $6.8 million in funding was secured by U.S. Senator Susan Collins to pay for a significant portion of the planned changes.
Hospital leadership, clinical leaders and emergency department staff have been working closely with architectural planners to finalize the design of the modernized emergency department. Once finalized, the proposed changes will be shared with the community, most likely this fall.
Is is expected that the changes to the emergency department will include a new entrance, new lobby, many new patient beds to meet expected future needs, a well-located “fast track” care area to treat less acute emergencies faster, a much improved environment for behavioral patients and a better located nursing station.
Planning for a Capital Campaign
While federal funding that has been secured will be important, there will be a need to conduct a significant capital campaign to close the expected gap in funding. According to St. Joseph Foundation president, Brad Coffey, “This will be the most significant capital campaign in St. Joseph Healthcare’s history. This emergency department is vitally important to the region, caring for as many as 30,000 patients per year. The existing space is inadequate in many ways and I look forward to working with the community to raise funds for this. I am optimistic that people in our community will want to help make this a reality.”