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  • Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Emergency Departments Open Today

    MultiCare Health System opened the new MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital Emergency Departments today. The first patients came in the doors shortly after 7 am seeking care in the bigger, more soothing environment.

    The new building was designed to deliver a better experience for the patient. That means more patient treatment rooms. That means bigger rooms to accommodate families and health care providers. That means single-patient rooms to provide more privacy. And that means new technology right at the bedside.

    “The new ED is much more spacious and comfortable,” said Dr. Tom Hurt, Medical Director at Mary Bridge. “This new facility should serve us for years to come.”

    The two-story Emergency Departments include rooms for less-sick patients, helping them get treatment in the right environment.

    The 132,000-square-foot Milgard Pavilion houses the two new Emergency Departments and the MultiCare Regional Cancer Center, which opened for patient care March 1. The Pavilion was constructed with the generous help of the community, who gave $29 million to the project.

    Easy Access: A new drop-off area provides safe, easy access to the Emergency Department. Valet services will be available, and a parking garage is nearby. Patients will access the new department through one central entrance. They will be greeted by helpful staff members who will direct them to the appropriate Emergency Department. The two facilities will have separate waiting areas, which they have not had before. Both waiting rooms will have entertainment and vending machines.

    Driving directions: The new Departments can be accessed off Martin Luther King Jr. Way. (The entrance to the old EDs was on J Street.) Turn down Fifth Street. The Milgard Pavilion is on the left. Parking is available in the 5th Street Parking Garage and the Baker Center Parking Garage. The Emergency Departments are on floors 2 and 3 of Milgard Pavilion. The Cancer Center is on floors 1 and 4.

    Tacoma General Hospital Emergency Department

    The Tacoma General Emergency Department will open with 24 rooms on the second floor and 18 rooms on the third floor. The department also will have three intake/triage rooms, which can serve as fully functional treatment rooms if necessary. The old Emergency Department will close on April 15 and be converted into seven high acuity rooms that will open later this year.

    “Our new Emergency Department provides a healthy, healing environment that will allow our staff to provide high quality care to our community,” said Crystal Billings, nurse manager of the Tacoma General Emergency Department. “The calming, spacious, private rooms and high-tech equipment will allow us to meet the needs of our customers in a way that we have previously been unable to. Our staff will be able to apply their skill and training in a whole new way to really create a world-class experience for our patients and their families.”

    MultiCare talked with patients and health care providers when designing the new building to make sure it was easy to navigate and easy to use. The rooms are designed to be flexible and are stocked with all the equipment needed to handle just about any emergency situation.

    The Tacoma General ED also includes a Treadmill room used to test the effects of exercise on a patient’s heart. Tacoma General is the only Emergency Department in Washington to provide patients with treadmill testing prior to discharge.

    Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital Emergency Department

    The Mary Bridge Emergency Department will open with four pediatric resuscitation rooms, double what’s available now, and 17 single rooms for emergency patients, plus 14 more on the third floor for children who are less sick and those that need observation until a decision is made to discharge or admit. The Department will be “ouchless.” Eight rooms have the capability to provide medical gases to calm pediatric patients during procedures.

    The Mary Bridge waiting rooms on each floor offer activities to keep kids busy while they are waiting and to entertain siblings.

    “We promise world-class care in a family-friendly environment,” said Charlie Aleshire, RN and clinical director of the Mary Bridge Emergency Department. “But ERs can be scary places, and in this new building we have made a concerted effort to take some of the scariness out of it.”

    Both Departments offer:

    • An open floor plan with centralized nursing stations that provide easier access to patients.
    • Some larger rooms to accommodate very sick patients who need more emergency equipment.
    • Expanded trauma services for our most critically ill or injured patients. Rooms are supplied with all necessary equipment including cardiac monitors, pumps and medical supply machines.
    • Separate treatment areas for patients not requiring emergency care.
    • Private rooms. This provides more privacy for patients and their families.
    • MultiCare’s two new Emergency Departments are among the first facilities in the region to have cordless imaging machines, offering greater portability, flexibility and efficiency.
    • A pharmacy that’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    Posted on Apr 15, 2010 in