Posted Date: 3/24/2009
Today the California Department of Public Health (licensing) conducted their site survey of our new Acequia Wing emergency department expansion. We have been approved to begin seeing and treating patients. The new E.D. will open tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM.
The opening of the new Acequia Wing begins this week as the Emergency Department will be the first element of the expansion project to be opened for service to the community. The expanded Emergency Department will have 4 new trauma bays, fitted with the most advanced technology, allowing the nurses access to supplies and the latest technology at the bedside, 4 critical care beds, and 8 new treatment rooms bringing the total capacity of Kaweah Delta’s emergency service to 40 treatment areas. A new feature in the ED is the pneumatic tube system allowing staff to send specimens to the lab and requests to the pharmacy without leaving the department. The new emergency covered vehicle entrance will protect crews and patients from the elements and provide easier, quicker access to the ED and it will accommodate 6 ambulances.
Patients will still access the ED through the existing entrance in the Mineral King Wing. The current ambulance area will be converted to 10 patient drop-off spaces for patients who arrive in private vehicles.
The expanded emergency department is also an essential step to prepare Kaweah Delta to serve as a Level III Trauma Center. In February Kaweah Delta submitted its application to the state for Trauma III Designation. Recently, Dr. Robert MacKersie, one of California’s preeminent trauma surgeons at UCSF, spent a full day surveying Kaweah Delta for its readiness for trauma designation. He concluded that Kaweah Delta’s physical facility and technological capacities, along with the vital nursing, general surgery and orthopedic surgery services were superb and very much in line with the requirements of trauma designation.
With over 72,000 emergency department visits and more than 650 traumatic injury cases per year, the expansion is essential to building the capacity to care for the growing community.
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