Dayton Gets Better ER

DAYTON - The large sliding glass doors framed with gold-hued curtains are more reminiscent of a comfortable living room than a stiff and imperson- al emergency room. And Chief Operations Officer Shane McGuire said it is intentional.

"Nobody wants to come to the ER," McGuire said.

But when emergencies arise, McGuire said the staff hopes to minimize as much stress as possible.

Little details around the updated Columbia County Health System emergency room were made with local patients in mind.

The hospital staff of- ficially started using the re- modeled space on Aug. 24.

The project's total cost came in at $280,000, Chief Financial Officer John Hennessy said. Design and construction cost $250,000 and equipment, like gur- neys and lights, came in at $30,000.

Funding was provided by a $150,000 low-interest loan from the Columbia Rural Electric Association. The rest of the funding was provided by the $130,000 in meaningful use money the hospital received for updating the emergency medical records computer system, hospital board Chairman Ted Pater- son said.

"The (meaningful use) money was put aside last year, knowing the ER need- ed to be remodeled," Hen- nessy said.

The idea, Hennessy said, is to take funding awarded for hospital updates to make more improvements on the hospital by putting it back into the facility in a useful way.

Lower beds in two exam rooms are easier to access for the young and the elder- ly patients. The beds come with a remote lift to bring the patient up to an accessible level for the nurses and physicians. McGuire said the beds can also take the patient's weight, which is often difficult to obtain in emergency situations.

One of the newly remod- eled rooms is built with a variety of situations in mind, McGuire said.

In case several patients come in at once, like in a car accident or other large incident, the room is large enough to accom- modate several beds or a lot of equipment for one patient in especially critical condition, McGuire said.

Paterson said the remod- el is a significant improve- ment for the hospital's ER, noting that the old rooms were only separated by curtains and offered less privacy.

One addition to the ER that has been especially anticipated by community members is the waiting room. McGuire said in the past, people waited in the hall near the ambulance port, which caused prob- lems with confidentiality for incoming patients as well as issues with foot traffic getting in the way of incoming patients.

The new waiting room in the ER is both close to the patient rooms while also remaining out of the way of the hospital staff.

"(The waiting room) al- lows an area for the family to wait while their loved ones are taken care of," Paterson said. "It provides privacy for the individuals coming in for treatment or care."

Updates were posted to the Columbia County Health System website, keeping the community informed about how the remodel was going over the summer.

The newly remodeled ER at Dayton General Hos- pital will be open for a tour at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18.