The third and final phase of the Benefis ED is set to open for patient care on Monday, Jan. 14.
The Benefis Health Systems emergency department is set to open for patient care on Monday, Jan. 14.
The $12.5 million facility took three years to complete starting with design meetings and moving to construction 18 months later.
“First section opened in May, the second section opened in September and the final one will open Monday,” said Dr. Bridget Brennan, Benefis medical director.
According to Scott Schandelson, nurse manager for Benefis Emergency Services, a large chunk of the money — more than $2.5 million — was funded by the community through the Benefis Foundation.
“This last piece will allow us to operationalize the vision we came up with several years ago,” Schandelson said.
The project expanded the total bed population from about 18 to 33. Schandelson said it will give Benefis a completely different ability to care for its patients.
“Just better utilization of resources and better experiences for the patients, but we needed the number of beds to do it,” he said.
The emergency department is adopting a new model of care that emergency departments have used across the country for a couple of years. It should decrease length of stay and wait times.
Brennan and Schandelson said there were no major difficulties, as far as construction goes.
They said the funniest thing they found was walls and stairs that weren’t on blueprints, but instances like this were easy to deal with because of the weekly meeting with construction.
Brennan gave props to the staff after saying they had the brunt of the construction craziness.
“We’ve moved supplies and we’ve moved people, and we’ve been divided at one point,” she said.
Schandelson added that during a time of construction and changes, the staff stepped up.
Let’s get some of the new features of this project the staff of Benefis are extremely proud of.
The building hasn’t had a family room for two years because even prior to breaking ground, Benefis had to re-purpose the room.
“We get to have a family room again which is something our community really needs,” said Schandelson.
They have put new technology in the room, a type of smart board, that allows patients and their family, no matter the distance, to make decisions together.
The board has a high-definition camera and sends a link and invite for those away to join the conversation. This allows them to be able to work around weather conditions and distance.
“The room is also behind double doors. It decreases the noise, so families can remove themselves for a few minutes from the chaos of whatever the situation is.
When Benefis had the opportunity to rebuild, it worked with the Sexual Assault Response Team because the hospital knew it would need space.
“This room was built around all of [local] agencies coming together and saying, ‘We just need something a little bit more if you have the space,' and so we found the space,” he said.
The room is safe and windowless featuring a forensic interview room. The victim or survivor of sexual assault can sit here and tell their story to their nurse privately without having to sit uncomfortably in a bed in stirrups.
“We try to preserve dignity the whole way through and try to decrease traumatization while we’re taking care of the patient,” said Schandelson.
After the interview room, they can move next door to the exam room.
The room has high-end technology, including a $21,000 digital camera provided by donors.
The digital camera has a forensic level filter and special lighting. The images cannot be manipulated.
The clothing of the victim is collected by the staff and all the data is encrypted onto a drive on its own discrete, hack proof network. Then, when and if the survivors choose to prosecute, they can request the password protected CD.
The final touch of the room is the private bathroom.
“When the victim survivor is done, we never had a [private] shower or a place to freshen up or a place to put on clean clothes,” said Schandelson.
Now there is an enclosed bathroom, so the staff doesn’t have to take the patient across the halls. They can stay in the room.
“It’s designed for the patient and the staff,” said Brennan.
The two rooms are stainless steel wrapped and resemble a jail; however, they are designed to keep the patients safe.
Everything is anti-ligature from top to bottom. From room to bathroom.
It’s easily cleanable thanks to the room being “flushable.” The entire room can be hosed down, cleaned and drained.
The lights can be lowered to avoid glares against the steel, and the rooms are video monitored.
The rooms also include their own private bathroom for the convenience of the patients and staff. No more need for escorted trips to the restroom.
“These are people that might be with us for a little while that just had a really bad night, and they want to clean themselves up so that whole shower system is anti-ligature too,” said Schandelson.
The building has never had a garage before.
It holds four ambulances and connects right to the helipads.
There are two helipads outside a set of automatic, double-doors. Now, when people come in, they don’t have to keep moving the helicopter.
The two pads also save money for upkeep and gas.
The garage also includes a separate shower area in case of patients come in with contamination.
The Benefis emergency department is located on the corner of 11th Avenue South and 28th Street South on the Benefis East Campus, open 24 hours a day.