Today our community celebrated almost four
years of planning as Maine Coast Memorial
Hospital broke ground for the F. Eugene Dixon,
Jr. Emergency Center – a new 20,000 square foot,
state-of-the art emergency medical facility
located on the Hospital’s Ellsworth campus.
According to Karen Stanley, Board Chair of the
Hospital, the cost of the project will be $10
million, and includes a new Central Sterile
Processing Center and office space above the new
Emergency Department designed to eliminate
temporary trailers that provide offices for over
25 people.
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Maine Coast Memorial Hospital
groundbreakers gathered to
celebrate the beginning of the
construction project that will
end with a new 20,000 square
foot, state-of-the art emergency
department. Left to right are 'shovelers'
Alan J. Goldstein, Chair of the
Maine Coast Healthcare
Foundation, Mrs. Edith Dixon,
board member and philanthropist,
Dr. Frederick E. Hutchinson,
Honorary Chairman of the Capital
Campaign, Karen W. Stanley,
Chairman of the MCMH Board of
Directors, Robert D. Merrill,
Campaign Chairman and Kenneth G.
Christian, MD, Chief of
Emergency Medicine.
Groundbreakers also included
John Phillips, Ellsworth City
Mayor, Douglas T. Jones,
President and CEO of MCMH and
Sean T. Maloney, MD, President
of the Medical Staff. |
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The Dixon Emergency Center will replace the
current Emergency Department that was built in
1989 and designed to serve approximately 12,000
patient visits per year - a figure that has
currently grown to well over 18,000 patient
encounters per year. Chair Karen Stanley stated
that as our service area has experienced
unprecedented growth over the last few years,
utilization of hospital services has also grown
- most notably in the Emergency Department.
According to Kenneth Christian, MD, Chief of
Emergency Medicine, we realized that we as a
community were growing so quickly that we needed
to expand our Emergency Department. This
required the designing of a totally new facility
in a new location. The design by Portland based
SMRT offers the opportunity to grow with the
future needs of the Hospital and accommodate
leading edge technology which embraces
telecommunication partnerships with leading
academic centers in Boston and Portland.
Preparations for the groundbreaking have been
underway since early summer at the Hospital’s
Ellsworth campus. New expanded parking, some
completed and others still under construction,
will be welcomed by both patients and employees.
The new facility will require a new rain water
retention system that has also been under
construction during the summer months. Recently
a piece of property was acquired from a neighbor
which allows for a totally new entrance to the
new Emergency Center.
To keep costs in check, the Hospital Board of
Trustees has authorized the Capital Campaign
Committee to raise $5 million via public
support. Robert D. Merrill, Vice Chair of the
Board, has accepted the leadership of this
effort. “Already we have received promises of a
couple substantial leadership gifts that will
soon be announced,” said Merrill. “I am also
proud to say we have just completed solicitation
of both the Hospital and Foundation Boards and
100 percent of their members have pledged gifts
to the campaign.”
When completed, the new Dixon Emergency Center
will offer a total of 15 exam rooms including
two trauma rooms, family rooms, OB/GYN exam
rooms and an X-ray room. “Patient and family
member needs were always in the forefront of the
designing and planning process,” said President
and CEO Douglas T. Jones. “We are looking
forward to bringing this wonderful new center
online early in 2010.” |
