Prattville Baptist Hospital Expands ER and Treatment Capabilities
er, expansion, health care, prattville baptist hospital, prattville mayor jim byard, treatment capabilities,
A crowded emergency room is a good indicator of a hospital’s high-quality care, but it’s also problematic for caregivers and patients, both in terms of wait times and efficient delivery of services.
A $2.5-million expansion at Prattville Baptist Hospital is going to change all that.
The Prattville area’s population has been growing at a brisk pace in recent years, and the hospital is working nonstop to keep up. The emergency room was identified early on as an area that could do with some updating, and so the expansion, which will more than double the emergency room’s size, became a priority project.
“We’ve seen double-digit growth within the last couple of years, and as you’re looking forward from a strategic standpoint, this was identified as our primary focus,” says Ginger Henry, hospital administrator. “In order to meet the needs of the community, we’re required to grow with the community.”
The current emergency room is a 3,000-square-foot space with seven treatment beds. The expanded and remodeled space comes in at 7,000 square feet, more than doubling the existing space. It features 17 treatment rooms, up from seven in the current configuration. The enlarged area and additional beds allow the hospital to be much more proactive in assisting the growing number of patients it sees.
“We treated 26,000 emergency room patients last year using the seven beds we have,” Henry says. “But we need a lot more room to continue serving the community.”
Among the renovations is a second entrance just for ambulances, which will increase both safety and efficiency. In terms of technology, the new emergency room will offer updated digital imaging equipment that utilizes a Picture Archiving and Communication System.
The expansion project, for which Russell Construction of Montgomery served as primary contractor, also quickly drew the support of community leaders. Prattville and Autauga County officials have addressed the need for growth at the hospital.
“The emergency room is the front door of our hospital,” says Prattville Mayor Jim Byard. “Most people who are receiving hospital services enter through the emergency room. We have a great community hospital, and it’s long overdue this expansion. We’re very excited that Baptist is spending this kind of money on bricks and mortar here in Prattville.”
The growth also means new staff, and the hospital is in the process of recruiting additional nurses to staff the expanded emergency room.
In addition to input from doctors, nurses and other staff, as well as the hospital’s advisory board, Henry says she and other administrators heard a lot from the community itself about what they’d like to see. This project is the first among many addressing those concerns, she says.
“We’re always evaluating and looking at the community needs,” she says. “We want to know how we can best serve them. Everybody is very excited about this expansion, because they want to see the hospital grow with the community. This is really exciting, and I think everybody’s very happy.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Wes Aldridge
