Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Beat #3 Susquehanna Health Project 2012

Susquehanna Health Project 2012 is remodeling the aging and outdated facilities of four local health facilities: Muncy Valley Hospital, Divine Providence Hospital, Hepburn Plaza, and The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center.

The Williamsport Hospital & Medical Center is the main focus of Project 2012. The Medical Center has some of the most outdated facilities and has not had any major renovations done in the last 20 years. Many of the current facilities at the Williamsport location date from the 1920’s to 1980’s and lack the compatibility to be used with the modern computer based patient care programs.

The rooms in the Hospital and Medical Center will be changed to single room units as opposed to the primarily two bed rooms that make up the hospital now. There will also be an addition of 90 new single occupancy inpatient rooms. With single rooms the risk of cross contamination between patients and patient’s families is reduced as well as ensuring more privacy for the patients. “The updated rooms will also generate more of a hotel feel rather than that of a traditional hospital,” said Rita F. Spangler, the Vice President of Operations at Susquehanna Health. The rooms will be more modernized with all of the patient’s charts on computers rather than having the charts hang off the end of the hospital beds.

The Williamsport Sun Gazette reported that with the increase in new patient rooms, Project 2012 is expected to add about 230 health system jobs as well as about 230 jobs in businesses that service the medical center. Miranda Cerrone, a sophomore at Pennsylvania College of Technology, recently got a job at the Williamsport Hospital. Cerrone said, “The renovations that are being done are most likely going to do wonders for the patient’s emotional and mental well-being.”

Project 2012 was started in 2006 with the anticipated renovations to be complete by the year 2012. The project is expected to cost around $250 million for the renovations done in all four facilities. The majority of the funding has come from the net proceeds of New Bond Funds. The total budget for Project 2012 so far is only at $230 million.

No comments:

Post a Comment