Sharron Haley/Clarendon Citizen - Bryant Brown, vice president/healthcare consultant for GMK Associates Inc., took residents of Clarendon County on a tour of the progress being made at Clarendon Memorial Hospital in mid-November.
First phase of hospital expansion nears end
Workers were busily working on drywall, electrical service, flooring and a myriad of other jobs as residents of Clarendon County were taken on a tour of Clarendon Memorial Hospital’s expansion project last month.
Bryant Brown, vice president/healthcare consultant of GMK Associates Inc., the company hired to manage the various phases of the hospital’s $22 million expansion project, briefed the residents on the state-of-the-art additions being made to the facility.
On the first floor, Brown walked the residents through the hospital’s new emergency room.
“There will be no waiting,” Brown told those on the tour. “In the new area, they’ll be able to separate the normal emergencies from the traumas.”
In the new triage area, staffers will determine which area of the emergency room the patient will be seen, according to the degree of the emergency.
Walk-ins and ambulance patients will be assessed in different areas of the emergency room.
In the case of a major disaster, the entire emergency room can be utilized as needed.
The hospital’s surgery suites are being moved to the facility’s first floor.
“It’s very convenient for patients with outpatient surgeries,” Brown said. “Come in, have surgery, then leave out the side door and go home.”
Upstairs, Brown took the tour through the new 24 guest care rooms.
Each room is between 350 and 400 square feet with large connected bathrooms.
“These rooms are large because more and more family members are staying with patients,” Brown said. “The rooms were designed to accommodate those individuals.”
Brown added that each room has areas of specific use.
When the doctor or staff member walks into the new guest rooms, they have access to the sink and sterilization area before reaching the patient and lastly they have access to the family member or caretaker.
Guest care also features several bariatric units that can accommodate hoists if needed.
Brown said the plans for the hospital expansion were done with the patient in mind.
“Everything revolves around ease of the patient,” he said. “We want their hospital visit or stay to be as pleasant as possible.”
Phase one is approximately 60,000 square feet of new construction that includes the surgery suites, emergency room and guest care rooms with completion anticipated by early February.
Joe and Nancy Camut, who participated in the tour, said they were impressed with the size of the rooms.
“I’m surprised at the size of the rooms,” Joe said after the tour. “The room size is better than a motel.”
“The spaces are very adequate,” Nancy added.
Mary Sheley said she was overwhelmed with the size of the expansion.
“It’s bigger than I thought,” she said. “I’m looking forward to seeing people use the new facility.”
