Hospital’s ER expansion to begin this fall

by Carol Crump
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 9:21 AM MDT

The $80 million to $90 million major expansion and renovation of the Wyoming Medical Center first proposed in 2005 is still on hold.

That doesn’t mean the community hospital won’t continue to expand and improve its services, according to WMC officials.

The next step to follow the parking garage that was completed last year will be a new emergency department.

Thanks to the hospital’s savings and operating funds, WMC has $11 million to begin work on its emergency department. The $17 million renovation and expansion project will be done in six phases to up the number of ER beds from 17 to 40. The first phase will start in the fall.

The need for the expansion is the result of a continuing increase in the numbers of those seeking medical care in the emergency room. In May 2008, WMC’s Level II trauma center was handling 110 patients a day. Forty percent of the hospital’s admissions came through the emergency room.

By the end of the fiscal year in June, the community’s emergency center had seen 39,000 patients, a number the regional hospital hadn’t expected to be that large until 2018.

Wait times also have increased, although WMC is still well below the national average, according to WMC Foundation Executive Director Shawn Bassham. The expanded and renovated department will include two distinct pods. One will treat serious and life-threatening conditions, while the other focuses on “fast tracking,” those with less serious problems.

“Our ER may be the first experience with our hospital,” Bassham said. “We want to make it a good experience.”

Phase one of the expansion will include the conversion of the open air courtyard area into a waiting room. The current waiting room then will be turned into ER rooms and a treatment area. Eventually, the cafeteria and food services will be relocated.

Once the renovation is complete -- possibly in 2012 -- the renovated facility will allow the ER staff to handle 70,000 patients a year.

Raising the remainder of the $17 million needed for all six phases of the renovation and expansion cost -- $6 million -- has become a responsibility accepted by the WMC Foundation.

The campaign, dubbed “Get ‘ER’ Done,” already has started from within, with $2.1 million committed over the next five years by the hospital’s family of employees, administrators, physicians and the WMC and WMC Foundation board members.

Pledges from employees totaled $378,000, and employees have the option of payroll deductions, donations of personal time or a straight gift to fulfill their pledges.

Bassham was quick to point out that the pledges weren’t “written in stone” at a time when life can be uncertain.

“We never want them (donors) to feel they’re signing their life away,” she said. “We don’t want guilt or obligation associated with a gift.”

Part of the campaign was a request for support from every member of the hospital family, even those who could not afford to help financially. According to Bassham, 65 percent -- approximately 1,200 employees -- have already signed a letter of support.

At a celebration party on June 2, an additional $10,000 to $12,000 was pledged.

With $4 million to go to complete the capital fundraising campaign, Bassham and the foundation will take “Get ‘ER’ Done” to the hospital’s auxiliary members and volunteers, the community’s physicians and other potential private donors.

That phase of the campaign will last for approximately 16 months, at which time the general public will be asked to take part in the fund-raising efforts. A “Saving Lives, the Time Is Now” campaign will top off the donations to reach the ultimate goal of $17 million.

“We need to invigorate the folks who live here,” Bassham said. “I or a loved one could be in the ER, and we want it to be the best it could be.”

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