St. Peter’s to dedicate 17M emergency department expansion next week

Saint Peter’s University Hospital will dedicate its $17 million emergency department expansion and modernization next Wednesday, and unveil a recognition wall honoring donors who contributed to the project.The dedication and blessing ceremony, led by Monsignor William Benwell of the Diocese of Metuchen, will be held at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at the New Brunswick hospital. St. Peter’s said the final phase of the project, the addition of an observation unit, will be completed in 2015.

The emergency department has been expanded from 18,000 square feet to about 29,000 square feet, large enough to treat 70,000 to 75,000 patients a year.

“This means that the new, larger ED will be big enough to meet the needs of the hospital — and its surrounding community — for many years to come,” said Ronald C. Rak, chief executive of St. Peter’s Healthcare System.

The three-year project has included the construction of one of the largest pediatric emergency departments in New Jersey, which opened in 2013, and special treatment bays for women’s health, acute-care and rapid-treatment patients, a redesigned entranceway for ambulances and the use of geriatrics-friendly materials and design, among other enhancements.

The ED now holds 56 beds, most in four-wall private rooms, with a few curtained bays in the fast-track area.

The 14-bed pediatric emergency department houses a full-time child life specialist to answer emotional concerns of a child and family members.

Several clinical areas within the emergency department will be named in honor of those patrons who gave at least $1 million toward the project. Those areas include: the Robert and Joan Campbell Adult Emergency Department; the Sharon and John H. Hajjar, M.D., Sovereign Medical Services Fast Track Department; and the Dorothy B. Hersh Foundation Pediatric Emergency Department.

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