DUBOIS, Pa. (WJAC) — Penn Highlands Healthcare DuBois unveiled a new emergency department on Wednesday, with plans for it to open Thursday.
Two stories tall and costing $21.5 million, Penn Highlands DuBois officials say the new Emergency Department (ED) and Neuro/Trauma Critical Care Unit will give people across the region better access to specialists and critical care.
Penn Highlands officials say the treatment area in the ED is fitted with "world-class" equipment. Including an eight-bay vertical care unit for patients with minor ailments, 19 treatment rooms with multiple nurses’ stations, four trauma treatment bays, four rooms to support behavioral health patients, and treatment rooms with greater privacy for patients who require special treatment such as children and assault victims.
Plus, there's a 20-room Neuro/Trauma Critical Care Unit on the second floor.
“This was part of the $200-million Penn Highlands Master Facilities Plan," Dr. Shaun Sheehan, the Penn Highlands Healthcare Emergency Services director, said on Wednesday. "This started a while ago, back in 2018 now, to expand the footprint of the health system and improve our access to care here in the region.”
The hospital saying the new ED has the tools required for them to receive "level two" accreditation, which they say they're pursuing.
"Level two" accreditation means a trauma center can care for the most critically injured patients, including neurosurgical emergencies. They also must have a number of certain specialists on call, such as interventional radiologists, a trauma surgeon, as well as maxillofacial and plastic surgeons. Additionally, operating rooms need to be available 24 hours a day.
All this together means patients will have all the specialty physicians available when needed.
“What it means is that you have all the specialties available to you all the time within a very short phone call," Sheehan explained. "The only difference is between a level two and a level one is that a level one, you have to do academic research.”
On top of all that, the project includes an ambulance bay to accommodate four ambulances simultaneously and a second helipad to accommodate two medical helicopters at once.
The current ED, located near the main entrance off of Hospital Avenue, is set to close and move to the new section of the facility. You can find the entrance to the new ED off of South Main Street.
The new ED is set to open it's doors at 6:30am on Thursday.
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