Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick held a ribbon-cutting for the first phase of its Emergency Department expansion project, which will meet growing demand for emergency care and specialty services at the Level I Trauma center.
“We launched this expansion project last year because there was a tremendous and increasing need for our services within our community,” said John Gantner, CEO and president of RWJUH, which is an RWJBarnabas Health facility. “As a major academic medical center, RWJUH offers a broad range of destination therapies and specialty programs that are found only at a small number of elite institutions nationally, and there is a significant demand for our services in our state and region.
“The patients we see are among the most seriously ill and critically injured and are here because of unexpected and often catastrophic circumstances. We owe it to them to do everything in our power to provide them with high-quality and high-touch care and give them the best possible chance to return to an active, healthy life with those that they love.”
The new areas of the first phase will open in early May, pending state approval, and include a new ambulance entrance with parking to accommodate eight ambulances and increased space for ambulance crews, three new resuscitation bays, a decontamination area, a care initiation area and a result waiting area.
The project will increase the Emergency Department from 40,000 to 60,000 square feet, when completed in 2019.
“It is critically important that we give our patients and staff an exceptional facility which allows us to make the patient experience the best that it can be,” added Lori Colineri, chief nursing officer. “We are confident that this expansion will have a significant, positive impact on the patient experience. The design is very thoughtful, taking into account staff workflow and minimizing steps wherever appropriate.
“We are proud to introduce this phase of the work to the community and we’re excited to unveil the entire, completed Emergency Department in 2019.”
