Memorial Health Care Systems in Seward is planning to ad 15,300 square feet of new space to its current facility. Pictured is a rendering of the planned addition which is scheduled to be finished in 2016.
Memorial Health Care Systems is changing its look.
Construction has already begun on additions to the east and west sides of the building that will allow staff to consolidate services.
Both the hospital and clinic entrances will remain open during the construction, Roger Reamer, MHCS CEO, said.
Reamer discussed the upcoming changes with a group at the Lied Senior Center of Seward July 29. The new additions will add approximately 15,300 square feet of new space. In addition, just over 4,000 square feet of existing space will be remodeled, he said.
When the last addition was done in 2002, Reamer said one of the considerations was adding a second story to the existing building. However, the current structure was not built to support a second floor.
Hospital philosophies are also changing as patients use more out-patient services as opposed to in-patient, Reamer said. Technological and pharmaceutical advances allow people to identify and treat medical problems earlier, so in-patient services are not as common.
This addition will allow MHCS to bring its most-used services to the front of the building, making them more accessible to patrons.
The west addition will be three levels, Reamer said, and will be designed so another floor could be added if necessary.
The lower level will be home to an aquatic therapy room, which will be a new addition to MHCS’s services. Physical therapy and cardiac rehab and education spaces will be expanded and remodeled slightly.
“We’re excited about the aquatic therapy,” Reamer said.
Aquatic therapy will be beneficial for the elderly, people who have balance issues and those recovering from knee or hip replacement surgery. The floor is hydraulic, Reamer said, so it will raise and lower, making it easier for patients to get in and out. In addition, the height will be set for each patient, as opposed to having one depth that might be too deep for some.
The floor is also a treadmill, Reamer said.
The area will have private locker rooms so patients can change into their swimming suits there.
The ground floor will house the speciality clinic. Currently, the speciality clinic is housed in a small space with only a few rooms that can be used. Reamer said moving the specialty clinic will allow MHCS to recruit additional speciality doctors to come to Seward, give them more space for their services and provide more options for visit times.
The outpatient lab will be remodeled, as will the spaces for echo cardiogram/Doppler tests and infusions for chemotherapy, Reamer said.
The sleep lab will be given its own space as opposed to using available patient rooms, he said.
The hospital will have more exam rooms, going from the current six to 10.
Space will be added to the retail pharmacy in the Family Medical Center, as well, Reamer said.
“We want to make the front more customer friendly,” he said.
The second level will be the cardiopulmonary floor, Reamer said. Areas for nuclear medical testing, stress tests and pulmonary function testing will be added. A separate gym for cardiopulmonary rehab will be on the second floor, as well as spaces for diabetes and cardiac rehab education.
The addition will eliminate some parking spaces on the west side of the building, but the circle drive leading to the doors of the Family Medical Center will stay.
On the east side of the building, the area where the MRI truck currently parks will become the new radiology department, adding about 2,000 square feet to the area.
The CT scanner and mammography area will be relocated, and Reamer said MHCS plans to buy a bone density machine to install in the space, as well. Additional space is planned for an MRI machine, but the machine won’t be added yet.
The addition will allow the emergency room to add a third trauma room and a second entrance dedicated to ambulances, Reamer said. The main emergency room entrance will be kept for non-ambulance drop-offs.
Reamer said about 20 percent of emergency room patients come via ambulance. The other 80 percent are “walk-ups,” he said.
The current mammography room will become a waiting area for the emergency room.
“We want to make things safer for our staff and more confidential for our patients,” Reamer said.
MHCS purchased two lots on the east side of the facility and will add parking for employees in those locations, Reamer said. With the loss of parking spaces on the west side, he said, patients and visitors are encouraged to park in the west parking lot across the street.
The goal is to have everything completed in the west addition by July 2015, with the radiology department done by February 2015. The entire project, including renovations and remodeling, will be finished by February 2016.
All told, the additions and renovations will cost $9 million, Reamer said. The projects will be paid from the MHCS cash reserve and MHCS Foundation donations.
“We are in good shape financially to do this project,” Reamer said. “We want to invest back into the facility.”
