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Beloit Memorial Hospital breaks ground on ER expansion

BELOIT — Beloit Memorial Hospital broke ground Wednesday on an $11.6 million expansion and remodeling project of its emergency center that will add another 12 rooms to be completed by June 2010.

“Our plan is to build the most advanced and up-to-date Emergency Center available today,” Dr. Richard Barney, emergency physician, said in a statement. “We have not had a major remodel of the ER since 1990 and the needs of our community have changed and expanded. The number of patients grows 3 to 5 percent each year and the current facility can’t efficiently accommodate this number of patients.”

Plans call for:

-- A 31,000-square-foot project to take place in three phases to provide privacy and comfort for patients using the hospital’s services during this time.

-- The new emergency center will add 12 new treatment rooms for a total of 27. The size of the treatment rooms also will be enlarged.

-- A new, covered entrance and enlarged ambulance bays to permit six ambulances to be in the receiving area.

-- New waiting areas for adults and children.

The center now functions beyond its intended capacity, sometimes creating long waits as patients are triaged according to the severity of their injury or illness, according to a news release.

Plunkett Raysich Architects and J.P. Cullen & Sons will be the architectural and construction firms on the project.