Expanded emergency dept. ready to meet challenges
LAKEWOOD — May 27 marked the completion of a carefully designed expansion of the emergency department at Kimball Medical Center. The final phase was completed and included the redesigning and refurbishing of the existing emergency department to provide faster access to emergency care in a more comfortable, healing environment.
"Achieving this important milestone means that Kimball Medical Center can continue to provide emergency care to the growing number of patients that seek our care," said Joe Hicks, executive director of Kimball Medical Center. "The emergency department expansion, which has been unveiled in four stages, brings to completion a journey that encompasses 27 months.
"Friends and supporters, staff and patients can now look back on this immense project with great pride, knowing that this facility will provide vital emergency care to nearly 60,000 patients annually. The new and expanded Fast Track section of the emergency department, treating patients in need of urgent care such as sprains and minor cuts, is now fully operational. Fast Track helps to expedite care for patients in need of minor services. Furthermore, it enables Kimball Medical Center to efficiently transfer emergency patients with more critical needs to appropriate care in a shorter amount of time," added Hicks.
In addition to Fast Track, the emergency department also saw the relocation of outpatient laboratory and radiology services to the new outpatient pavilion. The new radiology suite houses a state-of-the-art MRI, 16-slice CT Scan, digital X-ray and ultrasound in the outpatient pavilion just adjacent to the emergency department.
"The new radiology suite allows for accelerated diagnoses of all emergency and urgent care patients and provides easy access for our outpatients as well," noted Hicks.
According to a press release, throughout the emergency department expansion project, Kimball Medical Center tried to anticipate all the needs of patients and their families when illness or injury strikes.
Kimball Medical Center is an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, the largest integrated health care delivery system in New Jersey, with nine acute care hospitals, nine nursing homes, five ambulatory care facilities, three geriatric centers, three assisted living residences, a freestanding 100-bed inpatient psychiatric facility and a statewide behavioral health network.