Page 46 - BusinessWest March 7, 2022

Room for Improvement
CDH’s ER Expansion, Renovation Is Just What the Doctor Ordered
By Elizabeth Sears
Cooley Dickinson has a vintage 1973 Emergency Department — functioning well beyond its expected lifespan.
Even though this older facility has been a workhorse through the pandemic, helping sup- port its community through what is now four waves of COVID-19, it has some obvious bottle- necks. Due to a constriction of space, those at Cooley Dickinson have found themselves getting creative, using hall beds in order to get by. How- ever, an intriguing, $15.5 million solution is cur- rently in the works for 2023.
The plan, “Transforming Emergency Care: Campaign for the Cooley Dickinson Emer- gency Department,” will include the renovation of 17,000 square feet, plus a 6,600-square-foot expansion. In 2019, Cooley Dickinson completed a master plan for facilities, and the Emergency Department was identified as an area greatly in need of expansion and and renovation.
“We looked at the entire institution, and the Emergency Department emerged as the number- one priority,” said Diane Dukette, chief Develop- ment officer at Cooley Dickinson. “Then came the pandemic, and that only further heightened that need we had to take over the endoscopy space to create a specialized respiratory Emer- gency Department.”
This project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the initial plan was to start in 2020. However, this has allowed for plenty of time to plan, and those at Cooley Dickinson are feeling optimistic about the current timeline.
“The more planning you put into this, the better your construction phase is going to be, so we plan to really work with Consigli, our con- struction manager, to roll out a good phased- construction plan so it goes smoothly,” said
Dr. Robert Redwood, an emergency-medicine specialist at the hospital.
Since this project is occurring in an endem- ic-COVID world, the plan is incorporating HVAC needs like filters and negative airflow throughout the Emergency Department. This will be essential for taking care of patients during an ongoing respiratory pandemic, Red- wood said.
The ED expansion and renovation proj-
ect continues to be the top priority of the organization. The Emergency Department is roughly 40% undersized right now for the popu- lation it serves, and that figure does not take into account the Pioneer Valley’s constantly growing population.
Due to the current space limitations in the existing ED, Cooley Dickinson’s staff strategically makes decisions every day about where to put
patients. This is not ideal for anyone, but the staff is doing everything they can to ensure patient care, Dukette said.
“Our staff are spending more time doing workarounds and showing up and providing exceptional care in this space,” she told Business- West, adding that more space will allow them to do their jobs more efficiently.
“
institution, and the Emergency Department emerged as the number- one priority.”
We looked at the entire
DIANE DUKETTE
Redwood spoke of the ‘triple aim’ in health- care, which focuses on better outcomes, popula- tion health, and patient satisfaction. Now, there’s been considerable interest in a ‘quadruple aim.’ The Institute for Health Improvement has devel- oped a four-part framework which includes care for the care team — something that has been key
46 MARCH 7, 2022
BUSINESS OF AGING
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