MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – Officials at West Virginia University Hospitals-East’s City Hospital and the Martinsburg Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony today to showcase a new 17,000 square foot addition to the hospital’s emergency department.
This marks the completion of phase one of City Hospital’s $13 million emergency department expansion and renovation project. Phase two, which involves renovation of the existing emergency department, is scheduled for completion by October, according to Chief Administrative Officer Anthony P. Zelenka.
“Our plan is to begin seeing patients in the new area once all of the inspections are completed, and then we’ll begin remodeling the old space,” Zelenka said. “Once both phases are complete, our emergency department will operate at 40-beds vs. the current 27 with a capacity of up to 65,000 patient visits per year,” he added. Current volumes average 45,000 patient visits per year.
The new emergency department features private treatment rooms, a new trauma room equipped with state-of-the-art technology, and a spacious waiting area with a separate pediatric waiting area and expanded triage area.
“With our renewed focus on customer service and patient satisfaction, our ultimate goal is to decrease patient wait time in our emergency department,” Zelenka commented. “At the same time, we will always strive to provide high quality emergency medical services to our patients and communities we serve,” he added.
Once the new emergency department opens, it will mark the completion of the third and final segment of City Hospital’s $28 million expansion project. The cardiac catheterization lab, which opened in October 2010, was the first area to be completed. The new 20-bed ICU opened in earlier this year in January.