July 31, 2008

 
The hospital’s new addition will resemble this rendering, which is a first draft of the proposed building.

Doug Jones, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer, said lack of space and patient privacy are two issues for the existing emergency department.

“We’re seeing about 18,000 people a year, and this was designed for 12,000,” Jones said.

Maine Coast Memorial Hospital will present plans for an expansion, which will quadruple the space for its existing emergency department, to the Ellsworth Planning Board Aug. 6. Hospital officials say the expansion should decrease patient waiting time.—STAFF GRAPHIC BY CATHERINE MCKINNEY

On a busy day, emergency room personnel treat patients in a hallway of the emergency department. Room numbers 7 and 8 are posted on the ceiling above the hallway so staff know which patient is which.

“Privacy is very difficult to maintain,” said Jones. Curtains divide the rooms. There is no space for a family dealing with a trauma to meet privately.

An expanded emergency department will mean shorter waits for patients, according to Dr. Ken Christian, who has headed the department for the past 21 years.

Many factors affect waiting times for emergency room treatment, but the major issue at Maine Coast is lack of space, Christian said.

“We really have no place to put people a lot of the time,” said Christian.

The expansion will also make modern technology much easier for the hospital to incorporate in patient treatment, he said.

“The more modern designs recognize the fact that we have a lot more technology now that we didn’t have 15 years ago, which requires more space in a patient’s room,” said Christian.

Bedside computers, ultrasounds and chest X-rays are used in emergency departments today.

“We can do it now, but it often requires a shoehorn,” Christian said.

The new emergency department will have a larger waiting room. The current waiting room, which is across from the hospital registration desks, has a television and eight chairs in a corner.

“If you get one family here that can fill in the space,” said Jones.

The hospital will create a more private area for patients registering at the hospital.

The addition will include a second floor to be used initially as administrative space, while the hospital obtains state approval for a new maternity department, Jones said.

One goal in moving the maternity department is to get the department on the same floor as the operating rooms, eliminating elevator rides for women undergoing emergency cesarean surgeries, the administrator said.

Jones said the administrative space will reduce operating costs and create efficiency.

“There are a lot of work around things we’ve been forced to do,” he said. “Now we just kind of fit things into spaces.”

Once it obtains Planning Board approval, the hospital will put the project out to bid. The hospital anticipates going to bid in September with a groundbreaking anticipated the third week of October. Construction is expected to take 18 to 20 months.

Bob Merrill, vice chairman of the board of trustees, is leading a capital campaign to raise $4.5 million for the expansion.

The campaign, which is in its “quiet phase,” seeking “major leadership gifts” is going along well, Merrill said.

A public campaign will be launched in October.

“But word is getting around now and people are already donating to it already,” said Merrill. “There seems to be a lot of support for the project even with the economy the way it is now.”

Maine Coast Memorial Hospital is one of the largest employers in Hancock County. The hospital employs 755 people in full- and part-time positions between the hospital itself and its outlying clinics.

24,100-square-foot addition (10,000 square feet will be dedicated to emergency department, the rest will house administration)