The community got its first look at the new $40-million, state-of-the-art expansion of the Chelsea Community Hospital Sunday afternoon, which includes large and comfy private patient rooms, a new emergency room and beautiful covered entrance.
In fact, more than 1,000 people braved the rain and cold to attend the open house in just the first two hours of the event, which pleased Nancy Graebner, president and CEO.
“I’m just so glad that so many people from the community would come out to see it,” she said.
The about 130,000-square-foot new building includes 54 new patient rooms, a new intensive care unit, a new emergency department and diagnostic imaging and cardiopulmonary area, plus new outpatient rehabilitation and therapy, said Jennifer Berry, marketing director.
The main entrance has been relocated and there’s a new gift shop, beautiful coffee bar, meeting rooms and lobby. The buildings are connected through two corridors.
Its light, cheerful and airy feel, filled with more than 260 pieces of nature art – as well as a special children’s gallery in one corridor – looks more like a five-star hotel than a hospital.
Over and over while taking self-guided tours, guests complimented the new design, several remarking, “This is so beautiful, you almost want to get sick to stay here.”
And the hospital, which has always been proud of its food, will offer room service menus, too.
The hospital is now divided into five distinct areas and patient rooms are on the second floor.
The atrium area includes admitting, the main entrance, diagnostic imaging and cardiopulmonary services, rehabilitation services, a gift shop, cafe and conference rooms.
On the second floor are the ICU and patient rooms.
The ER includes 20 new emergency patient rooms, a registration area and lounge, business health and occupational medicine services.
The surgery center has operating rooms for both inpatient and outpatient services, while the lower level “houses administration, human services and medical records,” according to information about the expanded hospital.
The expansion was made possible through a merger with St. Joseph Mercy Health System, which that took place in 2009.
The Woodland Area has the dining room and private dining rooms as well as a board room on the first floor and the sleep center in the lower level. Also located in this area is ChelseaCare Home Medical Equipment.
The courtyard area has social work and volunteer services on the lower level and patient rooms on the first level.
The transition for services from the current locations to the new, state-of-the art expansion is expected to take place in phases, Berry said.
The ER is expected to open on Dec. 17, while patients are expected to be in the new private rooms on Jan. 7. In fact, visitors who have surgeries scheduled in January and February were already asking questions about the new rooms said Deb Casey-Rivand, RN, who has worked at CCH for 23 years.
“The nurses can’t wait to move in,” she said. “It’s like Christmas for us.”
Casey-Rivand said the rooms and new space design will make their jobs and patient stays more pleasant. In each room is a piece of art work, a project undertaken in cooperation with Chelsea Center for the Arts. There are lockable drawers for patient’s possessions, flat screen TV’s, bathrooms with showers that are wheelchair accessible and contain all sorts of modern amenities.
All rooms have a window view, and patient beds are situated so they can see the lovely wooded surroundings on the hospital campus.
“This is a nice space for patients and their families,” she said, including a comfortable reclining chair and a couch that quickly turns into a bed for family members who’d like to stay the night.
The lengthy list of both patient and staff comforts — with ease of accessibility for both — includes lifts in the ceiling to assist in patient care to specialized “communication signs” outside each room with brightly colored reminders about specific conditions of each patient.
The nurses’ stations are in the interior of the new areas as are the linen supplies and medication rooms. Everything is close together and easily accessed.
The expansion was planned and designed to meet the needs of the community, which requested private rooms and a state-of-the-art facility. While the total number of hospital rooms – 113 – remains the same, now they are primarily private rooms.
The project began in 2011 and additional renovations to the original building are scheduled to begin in 2013.
From beautiful wood floors to amazing views in the rooms and corridors, interesting architectural features, sculptures, courtyards and artwork, the new Chelsea Community Hospital has kept its heritage of a small community hospital in a calm wooded setting while adding a seamless connection between the new and existing facilities.
- Beautiful artwork inside the expanded Chelsea Community Hospital.
