Work begins on Med center

 

Eagle photo/Dave McDermand

 

CS officials mingle with staff and physicians from The Med near an artist's rendition of what the facility will look like after renovations at the groundbreaking event for said renovations.

 

 

photo by D.McDermand

 

 

Tom Jackson, CEO of The Med, addresses the crowd gathered at the groundbreaking for new additions.

College Station Medical Center broke ground this week on a $22.5 million construction and renovation project that will double the hospital's nursery and delivery rooms.

The project includes adding nearly 30,000 square feet to the campus, and renovating an additional 18,000 square feet. Officials plan to begin construction in July, and completion is scheduled for late 2011.

A majority of the project will include expanding the Women's Pavilion, which will receive 43 new rooms, officials said. Four labor and delivery rooms will be added, for a total of 10, and two antepartem rooms will be available instead of the existing two.

In addition, a third floor will be added to the hospital that will include two full-term nurseries, 17 post-partum rooms and 13 private gynecology rooms.

"This is a day we've all been awaiting anxiously for several years," Dr. Justin Gayle, director of women's services for The Med, said at the groundbreaking ceremony. "We want everything from a health care standpoint to be available right here."

The neo-natal intensive care unit won't be overlooked either, said Tom Jackson, CEO at The Med.

Several years ago, the hospital was the first in the area to offer private NICU rooms for babies and their families, he said, and the construction will add seven of those rooms, for a total of 13.

"When you offer private rooms, each patient gets the care they need and can have privacy with Mom and Dad," he said. "The rooms are large enough so that parents could stay in the same room as their baby."

Dr. Eric Wilke begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting, medical director at The Med, said getting additional space in the emergency room is what he's looking forward to most with the project.

Nearly 30,000 residents visit the ER at The Med each year, he said, which is up from about 17,000 from five years ago.

And with only 13 beds, things can get "cramped," he said. When construction is finished, 19 beds will be available.

"I'm definitely looking forward to more space," Wilke said. "We've got a lot of students now and it will be very nice to continue teaching without stepping on anyone's toes."

Part of the new ER space will be dedicated to a new nursing station, and Jackson said the addition of six minor condition treatment rooms will only make ER waiting times faster.

"We already have the fastest ER in town," he said, noting the average wait time is less than 20 minutes.

Two new operating rooms -- equipped with the latest surgical technology and capable of handling heart surgeries -- will be added to the hospital, bringing the total up to eight, Jackson said.

He said he anticipates the hospital's additions will be good not only for The Med, but the area as a whole.

"It puts the taxable base on our campus up another $22 million," he said. "But more importantly, it raises the level of neonatal care in the community."

Jackson acknowledged he was in a competitive market, and said he was aware that St. Joseph Regional Health Center just renovated their nursery, NICU and added ORs, and Scott and White plans on building a hospital further south down Texas 6.

But construction at The Med isn't meant to solely attract new patients, he said.

"For us, we're building on business we already have, we just need more space," he said. "We have the demand for it, it's not about trying to build something and hope they'll come here."