York Town News
York Hospital gets nod from state for $7 million expansion
By Jennifer L. Saunders
Courtesy of York Hospital
Courtesy of York Hospital
YORK VILLAGE - York Hospital has received some welcome news from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in the form of the preliminary go-ahead for a multi-million dollar expansion of its surgical wing.
York Hospital Marketing, Planning and Service Development Lead Dawn Fernald confirmed the hospital has been successful in the state-mandated Certificate of Need (CON) process, the first step in an expansion project of this type.
The next step will be to continue finalizing plans for the expansion, Fernald said, and then to begin the local Planning Board approval process.
"We are happy to acknowledge this approval. We understand the need to continually improve and expand service availability to the community we serve and this is a great indication from the state level that they understand that need as well," said York Hospital President Jud Knox in the formal announcement of the CON award last week. "… We are hoping to complete this project by the summer of 2009 with no disruption of surgical services during the construction process."
The proposed expansion will include a 5,200-square-foot addition to the York Hospital Surgery Center as well as a 7,000-square-foot renovation to the existing center. The renovation and expansion will accommodate an increase in services as well as improvements to privacy afforded to surgery patients and their families, Fernald confirmed.
"This timely expansion will allow us to continue to provide enhanced care of our growing population in the manner that people deserve and have come to expect from York Hospital," said Chief of Surgery Dr. Charles Gaudet in the announcement of the planned expansion.
The center was last expanded in the early 1990s, but hospital officials noted the Surgery Center has seen an increase of about 220 percent in surgical procedures since approximately that same time.
"The staff has utilized this area to the best of their ability while watching the population climb and the demand for surgical services intensify," said Carol Campbell, who leads Surgery and Special Procedures Care at York Hospital. "While we are able to maintain quality patient services in our cramped center, we realized it was time to expand services so that our patient care would not have to be compromised due to the lack of space, and our breadth of services would not have to be limited due to OR (operating room) availability."
Fernald said that when the new center is complete it will include two additional operating rooms as well as seven ambulatory surgery rooms for patients and their families prior to and after surgery.
Once the planned expansion becomes a reality, she said, the hospital will have a total of five operating room suites and 12 ambulatory or "pre- and post-op" rooms, as well as a new post-anesthesia care unit with seven patient recovery areas. The center expansion will also include a new reception and waiting area and additional space for equipment storage and staffing needs.
"We have a superb surgical staff here, and they achieve excellent clinical outcomes," said Surgical Services Medical Director Dr. Jeffrey Thurlow in the announcement of the CON approval. "It is essential that we provide a contemporary facility with the necessary tools and technology to enhance our services."
York Hospital is now in the process of finalizing architectural drawings and plans, Fernald said, to begin the local approval process with the York Planning Board.
At this time, she said, a date for a preliminary presentation to the board has not been set.
