Trinity Rock Island announces intent to build $61.3 million Heart Center and Emergency department expansion
January 24, 2013
Officials at Trinity Regional Health System today announced their intention to build a proposed 90,000 square-foot, three-story expansion of its Heart Center and Emergency department (ED) at the Trinity Rock Island campus, pending regulatory approval from the State of Illinois. The $61.3 million construction project – which will be located at the front of the hospital – is the largest in the facility’s history. The expansion is designed to improve patient safety and privacy, better coordinate care, reduce operational costs and accommodate increased demand.
“Over the past 40 years, Trinity has consistently kept current with changes in medical advances and technology; however, very few capital improvements to the Rock Island hospital building have been made. We have waited as long as we can to upgrade and modernize our hospital,” said Trinity President and CEO Rick Seidler. “The rapidly increasing number of patients in the emergency department, cardiac treatment unit, and psychiatric crisis service areas has stretched these units beyond capacity. The need is critical.”
In 2011 Trinity diagnosed and cared for 35,676 patients in the Trinity Rock Island ED, a 7 percent increase over the previous year. Another 8 percent increase is projected by 2014. As volumes continue to grow space is at a premium, and workflow is a challenge. Currently many of the existing treatment bays have been converted into double rooms. The only privacy is a thin curtain separating the two beds. The rooms are too small for family members to stay with a loved one. At peak times the department has even had to set up hospital beds or chairs in hallways as treatment stations to accommodate patient volume.
In addition about 10 percent of ED patients receive cardiac-related diagnoses, but space constraints prevent the unit from having testing and diagnostic equipment inside the department. Emergency patients needing access to this equipment must be moved out of the ED and down a long corridor for diagnostic imaging and subsequent treatment in the main hospital’s testing area. By increasing the amount of time needed before treatment can be started, there is a greater potential for further heart muscle damage.
State behavioral health facility closures also add to the capacity issue. When former state hospital patients are sick, out of medication or simply lost and confused with no place to go, they often come to the ED. There are an increasing number of patients who are combative, disruptive or even suicidal upon arrival.
“I am very proud of the work we do in the emergency department. We have the best-trained staff. They are passionate about their work and love the challenge of comforting and healing patients who need emergency care,” said Dr. Kevin Kurth, Trinity’s Director of Emergency Medicine. “However, the lack of space and poor logistics in our current emergency department do not support the high level of care we deliver. We all must work harder to compensate for this. With a new, expanded emergency department, we could do so much more.”
Plans also call for expanding the space and services offered at the Rock Island hospital to accommodate increased volumes and better coordinate heart care under one roof. In 2012 cardiologists and heart surgeons performed more than 5,000 procedures. Currently Trinity Rock Island’s three cardiac catheterization laboratories (cath labs) operate at 80-90 percent capacity on any given day, so there is little room in the schedule to accommodate emergency cases like heart attacks.
In addition, a patient may be diagnosed in the Trinity Moline emergency department, undergo surgery or a cath lab procedure at Trinity Rock Island and then receive ongoing testing and cardiac rehabilitation back in Moline. The new plans call for the full continuum of heart care to be coordinated under one roof. Not only will this make care more convenient for patients, it will also help physicians more easily collaborate.
“Trinity’s heart program continues to achieve national accolades for the quality of its care despite the challenges the heart care team faces due to ever-increasing volumes,” said Dr. Sanjeev Puri, cardiologist with Cardiovascular Medicine P.C. – Illinois, who is on medical staff at Trinity. “We have first-rate care here, but we need facilities to help support its continuance.”
The project will be funded through a combination of internal reserves and borrowing through Trinity’s parent company, Iowa Health System.
“We see there is a great need for this project in the Quad Cities. We understand the huge benefits that will result from it,” said Bill Leaver, President and CEO, Iowa Health System. “Iowa Health System’s financial support of this project is a vote of confidence in Trinity and the Quad-Cities.”
During the news conference, officials also announced that the Trinity Health Foundation will conduct a capital campaign to support the expansion as well.
Trinity’s Certificate of Need application is scheduled to go before the Illinois Facilities and Planning Review Board on March 26, 2013. If approved, Trinity plans to break ground in June 2013 with construction completed by summer 2015.
Navigant Healthcare, one of the country’s top-ranked healthcare management consulting firms, has assisted Trinity in retaining the design services of Cannon Design, a nationally recognized healthcare design firm, who is working in partnership with Gere Dismer Architects of Rock Island and Paragon Commercial Interiors of Davenport. Additionally, the engineering for the project is being provided by Rock Island firms KJWW Engineering and Missman Engineering. Pepper Construction, a national builder, along with Russell Construction, a local Quad-Cities construction firm, have formed a joint venture and were chosen as the general contractor for constructing the expansion in partnership with local trade contractors.
“The Board of Directors is committed to keeping local dollars local by involving engineering, architectural, interior design and construction firms from the Quad-Cities. This project will create local jobs,” said Trinity Regional Health System board chair Pete McLaughlin. “Not only is this project about meeting the healthcare needs of our community and region. When completed, the expansion will represent one of the largest financial investments in the community that the Quad-Cities has experienced in recent years.”
-#-