Summa Health System, an Akron, Ohio-based integrated delivery system, has announced a $65 million plan to grow its emergency services network by building two new full-service emergency departments and expanding three existing emergency departments.
Free-standing emergency departments will be built on the Summa Health Center at Lake Medina (Ohio) campus and in the City of Green (Ohio) to complement services offered at the Summa Health Center at Green.
The emergency departments at Summa Akron City Hospital, Summa Barberton Hospital and Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital will be expanded to allow for increased capacity and improved patient experience.
"With the significant expansion of our tertiary hospital emergency department and Level 1 trauma center, supported by a full network of community hospital and free-standing emergency departments, we're able to give our communities the best access to the emergency medical care they need, when they need it and in their own backyards," said Thomas J. Strauss, president and CEO of Summa Health.
Summa's emergency departments across the system saw more than 227,000 patients in 2009. Summa Akron City Hospital's emergency department currently consists of 43 beds and approximately 19,000 square feet and was designed to treat approximately 52,000 patients, Strauss said.
Treating more than 78,000 patients in 2009, the expansion will bring the number of beds to 75 and increase the area to 84,000 square feet.
The renovated facility will offer larger private rooms, enhanced radiological testing capabilities with two digital radiography units, ultrasound and a 64-slice CT scan unit dedicated to the emergency department. Construction will begin in April 2010.
Strauss said plans are being developed to expand and renovate the emergency departments at Summa Barberton Hospital and Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital in order to continue to meet the growing community need for emergency care. Summa also provides emergency services to the community at Summa Western Reserve Hospital and Summa affiliate Robinson Memorial Hospital.
The Summa Health Center at Lake Medina and Green emergency departments are expected to open in 2011, according to Strauss.