FLEMINGTON, N.J. — Hunterdon Medical Center recently began construction on the expansion and renovations of the surgical suites as a continuation of its $22 million “Investing in a New Generation of Care” capital initiative. The surgical suite will include two new operating rooms, a family waiting room and pre-operative patient area, renovation to employee locker areas and an education training room. This construction will not interrupt the delivery of patient care because of the creative design plan that extends the operating rooms out beyond the current building façade.
The $4.5 million project will be equipped with the latest technology including boom-mounted flat-screen monitors, endoscopic towers, and video integration (touch-screen controls), which are all in easy reach of the operating room team. These larger operating rooms will allow more space for surgeries that require more equipment such as orthopedics and neurosurgery.
The project encompasses new construction of 2,018 square feet and renovation to existing space of 3,052 square feet. The expansion of surgical services at Hunterdon Medical Center will benefit over 130,000 residents.
This initial expansion and renovation will add two state-of-the art operating rooms and allow the hospital to close two smaller rooms, which will be used for a general supply room and a sterile supply room as well as an emergency pass-though to the new operating rooms. During this phase of construction, the number of operating rooms will remain at six.
Future plans will include renovating four operating rooms with the video-integration equipment and adding two operating rooms to the facility. This will then bring the operating room capacity from six rooms to eight. This project will create about 40 new jobs including construction and clinical staff due to increased productivity of the new additional operating rooms. Construction is expected to be completed in May 2012.
The first major milestone of the Investing in a New Generation of Care campaign was the expansion of Hunterdon Regional Cancer Center’s new radiation oncology wing, which opened on March 22, 2010. The radiation oncology wing houses the Varian Trilogy™ Linear Accelerator radiation therapy technology, the most powerful, precise and versatile system for treating cancer. The campaign will also support the centralization of acute-care cardiovascular services. This project will include private rooms, catheterization labs and a cardiovascular critical care unit all that will be housed in a new inpatient clinical care area. This project will begin at the end of 2012, early 2013.
Note: Photo from http://www.hunterdonhealthcare.org.
