Salem Community Hospital in Ohio breaks ground for bed tower project
Salem Community Hospital in Ohio, US has broken ground for $42.5 million bed tower project, designed by architect Craig Moskowitz of Wilmot Sanz.
The project aims at improving patient care and caregiver efficiency. The patient bed tower will be built on the east side of the existing hospital in front of the cafeteria and surgery center.
It will include three floors dedicated to patient care with 87 private, family-friendly and technologically-advanced patient rooms. A ground floor will consist of a concourse connected to the existing main entrance with a gift shop and coffee shop, classroom space and access to a two-level parking deck located below the patient floors.
The tower will also include 27 beds for intensive care unit and step-down unit patients, 30 beds for surgical and pediatric patients and an additional 30 beds for medical/surgical patients.
The patient bed tower rooms will replace the double occupancy rooms housed in the existing medical/surgical wing built during the 1970s, giving privacy to patients. Space will also be freed up in the existing hospital for more outpatient offerings.
The ground level parking garage will have an entrance near the existing main entrance of the hospital. A separate entrance will be created for the lower level of the garage on the other side. A new surgery center drop-off canopy will also be created.
The design is created to match the look of the current facility from the outside as well as the inside. It also aims at saving time and energy for the caregivers, creating a more efficient operation. Each room will have an area dedicated for family and visitors.
The project is being funded with money that had been set aside and with a loan to be repaid over time. It is expected to create an estimated 125 construction jobs over the next two years.
The completion of the project is expected in early 2014.
