First was the new patient tower a few years ago and then the parking garage a couple years ago. On Saturday, Sept. 10, retiring Methodist Hospital President /CEO Dennis Lee and incoming President/CEO Dan F. Ausman dedicated a new $140 million six-floor patient tower and emergency room. Mayor Gary Kovacic, who had his own very recent personal experience at the hospital to share (see Mayor Kovacic story/video here), was among several other presenters, as well as Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich who arrived shortly after the formal ceremony. <Story continues below following video highlights of dedication and walking tour of the new North Tower.>
Get the Flash Player to see this content. Remarkably, the new North Tower was completed several months ahead of its scheduled December opening and well below its initial budget of $200 million. Among the highlights:
* 155,000 square feet.
* New Hollfelder Emergency Care Center and main entrance.
* Room for five ambulances simultaneously.
* Seven decontamination showers.
* 20 new critical care beds.
* Four critical care rooms equipped like mini intensive care unit with surgical lights and equipment booms.
* Five specialty rooms (OB/GYN, an orthopedic, and ENT, and a room for psychiatric patients.
* 18-bed observation unit.
* 80 medical surgical beds.
* New kitchen and cafeteria in the basement.
* New heart monitor (telemetry) system to monitor all patients in North Tower.
* Nurses each have their own computer; doctors have separate computer room.
* 32″ flat screen TV in every room.
Patients will no longer use the east and west wings, which were built in 1957 and 1967, respectively, with the exception of pediatrics on the first floor.
A few statistics about the overall hospital:
* Founded in 1903.
* Moved to Arcadia in 1957.
* 40,000 emergency department visits per year.
* 25,000 outpatient diagnostic visits per year.
* 16,000 inpatient admissions per year — 11,000 through emergency room.
* 5,000 surgeries per year.
— By Scott Hettrick