WVUH-East’s City Hospital ED Construction Begins
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – Beginning Monday, May 17, all emergency department walk-in patients at City Hospital will need to use a new temporary patient entrance located at the back or west side of the hospital at the old ambulance entrance.
The emergency department’s main patient entrance and parking lot have been closed as crews begin work on the 17,000 square foot expansion. The new canopied entrance will serve as the main ED entrance until construction is completed in February 2011.
According to Tamra Stacy, RN, emergency department manager, directional signage has been installed and the new entrance will be well marked. Patients should look for and follow the signs to patient check-in and triage.
Emergency department parking is available in the lot on the hill behind the emergency department directly across from the new patient entrance, or in the lot between the hospital and the McCormack Center.
Within the next few days, construction crews will begin working on the foundation for the emergency room expansion which will feature 40 patient rooms. “The will allow us to be able to handle 60,000 to 65,000 patient visits per year compared to the 45,000 we currently treat,” Stacy commented.
During construction, all hospital and ED services will be operating as usual. Some hospital entrances and parking will, however, require temporary modifications to accommodate the construction including the medical staff parking area which will be relocated to the front of the hospital.
“We apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause our patients and visitors,” stated Tony Zelenka, chief administrative officer at City Hospital. “Because it is important to have adequate parking for our patients and visitors, we did add parking spaces last fall to compensate for spaces that we would be losing during construction,” he commented.
City Hospital’s emergency department expansion is part of the $28 million construction project currently underway at the hospital. In addition to the ED, the plan includes construction of a new cardiac catheterization lab and 20-bed intensive care/coronary care unit.