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Expansion of Penn State Health ER hits halfway mark
Ioannis Pashakis//May 20, 2019
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has finished a new area for its emergency department and plans to open it this week.
Penn State Health will be using the new space as its emergency department starting May 23 while it renovates the current department. The hospital system, based in Derry Township, plans to resume using both spaces by this time next year.
The expansion to the department began in late 2017. It created four initial-care rooms where physicians assess the care a patient may need, four exam bays for short-term examinations, six private treatment rooms for longer examinations, a new main entrance, a registration desk and an expanded waiting area.
The current emergency department has operated from its location in the hospital for 14 years and sees approximately 75,000 patients annually. The expansion and renovation are designed to improve treatment and patient flow.
“The expanded space in the emergency department will make it easier for our providers to give high-level care to patients in immediate need,” said Dr. Susan Promes, chair of emergency medicine. “Patients will get the same expertise they expect from Hershey Medical Center providers with an improved operational flow.”
Renovations to the current department, expected to be completed early next summer, will add four exam bays, two treatment rooms, a sexual assault exam area, and an expanded decontamination and infectious disease isolation area.
When completed, the entire department will total 24,000 square feet. The overall project cost is approximately $49 million.
At the same time, Penn State Health is renovating the second and third floors of the emergency department in a separate $20 million project aimed at modernizing operating rooms and creating clinical and research space for the center’s Cancer Institute.
The health system is also adding three floors to its children’s hospital in a $148.1 million project slated for completion in 2020.
