A New ER for Niagara Falls
- January 2007
- Français
The doors officially opened Fri., Jan. 12 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the new 18,000-square-foot Jeff Morgan Emergency Department at the Niagara Health System's Greater Niagara General (GNG) Site in Niagara Falls, and about 170 invited guests were on hand. Work began on the major new department in August/2005, which opened its doors to patients on Tues., Jan. 16/2007.
The new Emergency Department (ED), built onto the front of the hospital at the corner of Portage Road and North Street, replaces the existing ED, built in 1973 to accommodate 20,000 patients per year within 8,700 sq. ft. That space can no longer accommodate the 50,000 emergency visits to GNG each year.
Because hospital expansion is so costly, the Niagara Health System successfully advocated to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to build in space for future needs. The new state-of-the-art unit has plenty of room to grow and will accommodate 65,000 patient visits per year.
A Model for Canadian Hospitals
"In the last few years, we have experienced some healthcare crises, such as SARS and a chemical contamination emergency, which has shaped the design of this ED," says Dr. Dave Turineck, GNG Site Chief and Director of Emergency Medicine. "Our planning team was fortunate that we had time to incorporate such elements as self-contained ventilation systems and satellite nursing stations to ensure patient-care areas can be maintained and contained for infection control reasons, if required. This project is a model for the rest of Canada. Because the design was developed in the wake of the SARS crisis, it incorporates special compartmentalized air handling systems and forward-thinking mass decontamination capacity to ensure that the facility is in a high state of readiness in the event of infection control issues, chemical or biological exposures."
"Our emergency departments are quite often not only the front doors to our hospitals, but the face of our hospital for patients," says Tracy MacDonald, Chief Nursing Executive and Vice President of Patient Services with responsibility for the Emergency program. "What Niagara Falls has now is an outstanding and leading-edge facility. We are particularly pleased with the layout because we will have better teaching facilities for nurses, paramedics and medical students. Incorporating teaching into our ED practice means better patient care and the potential to enhance our recruitment efforts – definitely a win-win for the community."
Specialized Treatment Areas
The new department houses a full spectrum of specialized treatment areas. Three (expandable to four) fully equipped resuscitation rooms are located immediately through the ambulance entrance to ensure immediate accessibility for the most critically-ill patients. A new clinical decision area offers a greater level of privacy, patient confidentiality and better infection control. The unit also contains a dedicated quiet room for families requiring bereavement counseling or a private waiting area. A departmental radiology suite means patients will have x-rays and other diagnostic imaging procedures completed right in the ED. Another key feature is the decontamination room, featuring an outside entrance with decontamination showers to clean off any contaminants on patients or emergency response and hospital staff.
"Unique features include the dedicated diagnostic imaging area and pneumatic tubes to send lab samples instantly from the ED to the hospital laboratory," Tracy explains. "These features and new high-tech computer integration will ready us for electronic patient records, meaning our staff is soon going to be able to reduce the turn-around time to diagnose patients. This is a very tangible benefit for the community. Also, having a department twice the size to work in means patients won't hear the words 'We don't have a bed for you' as often."
Donor Support
The completion of the Jeff Morgan Emergency Department would not be possible without the funding support from the community. The Greater Niagara General Hospital Foundation has exceeded its campaign goal of $9 million for this project to cover construction and equipment purchases, thanks to the hundreds of individuals, businesses, and service clubs which stepped forward with their support.
The ER has been named in memory of Niagara Falls community leader and foundation supporter Jeff Morgan, who passed away in 2004. "This really is a special time for the hospital family," Foundation Board Chair Joyce Morocco says. "We've been seeing the construction happen over the last year and have been amazed at the community's support. Of course, many residents have first-hand knowledge of the small Emergency Department the hospital has worked with, so seeing a new department happen before our eyes is something that's long overdue for our community." A dedicated donor wall in the waiting room of the new ED, with a water feature to symbolize Niagara Falls, will displays donors' names at the $1,000 and up level.
The community was invited to help celebrate the opening of the Jeff Morgan Emergency Department at a Community Open House, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Fri., Jan. 12. Emergency Department nurses gave guided tours of the new facility and held a special Teddy Bear Clinic for children to bring in their injured soft toys for some on-the-spot care. About 800 visitors toured the new department during the open house.
New Ambulatory Care Centre and Front Entrance
The new Emergency Department may be complete, but the construction work won't end yet at GNG. The second phase of construction started Jan. 16 to convert the old ED and adjacent areas into a 17,000-square foot Ambulatory Care Centre, housing day surgery, pre-admission, ambulatory and medical day stay clinics, as well as a convenient link to endoscopy and other clinic areas. The expanded ambulatory care unit will provide scheduled clinics for adult and paediatric patients, specialty medical clinics, minor procedure clinics, medical day-care, and surgical day-care. The day surgery unit, when relocated to the Ambulatory Care Centre, will feature 25 patient recovery bays directly accessible to the hospital's operating suites.
Also taking place over the winter and spring will be the expansion of the hospital's main entrance.
"We are probably one of the few ED's in Ontario caring for 50,000 people a year in such a small department," Dr. Turineck says. "The new facilities are tremendous for our patients and staff."