Sat, Oct 11 2008
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Published October 29, 2007 12:06 am - Hundreds of area residents attended the ceremonial opening Sunday of Freeman Health System’s newest addition, and many had wish lists of what they hoped they would find inside. Hundreds tour hospital addition By Melissa Dunson
mdunson@joplinglobe.com Hundreds of area residents attended the ceremonial opening Sunday of Freeman Health System’s newest addition, and many had wish lists of what they hoped they would find inside. Ronald Metz, of Joplin, spent some time at Freeman Hospital West several years ago because of a heart attack. He and his wife, Helen, said they attended Sunday’s event to the see if the new tower would expand the emergency room. “I like the idea of a new ER,” Helen Metz said. “I don’t have any complaints about how we were treated, just that it got kind of crowded.” The new tower at Freeman Hospital West covers 186,000 square feet in six stories and more than triples the size of the emergency department. Hospital officials cited overcrowding as one of the major reasons for the $47 million expansion project. Gary Duncan, Freeman president and chief executive officer, said the hospital’s emergency room has been treating more than 50,000 patients a year in a space designed to handle 35,000 a year. Jane Shue drove from Parsons, Kan., with her mother, Wanda Hevel, for the dedication. Shue said she was hoping to see private rooms inside the new tower. Shue has had two surgeries at Freeman in the past two years, and she said additional patient privacy and a place for out-of-town family members to sleep topped her wish list for the new tower. The tower includes 39 private treatment rooms, each with a built-in, fold-down bed for overnight guests. Randi Rion, of Carl Junction, is a student intern at Freeman. She will graduate in December from Crowder College in Neosho. She said she knows she eventually will work in the tower, and she wanted to check out what kind of space and technology will be available. She said her greatest hope was that the patient rooms would be larger and more open, giving the nurses greater flexibility in treating patients. “When you get a bunch of family members in the room, sometimes it’s hard to get around in there and treat the patient,” Rion said. Rion may have the expansion to thank for her job. Duncan said the tower is creating 50 to 100 jobs, especially in the area of nursing. He said Freeman this year has recruited more registered nurses than ever before — 167 so far — and it hopes to raise that number to 200 by the end of the year. The crowd attending the dedication heard speeches from hospital officials and Gov. Matt Blunt, and presentations by the Missouri Southern State University chamber choir, the Missouri National Guard, Webb City High School’s marching band, and MSSU’s cheerleaders and football players. Tours of the building were followed by a concert by Duke Mason, Rebecca Luebber and A Sure Thing. The community atmosphere drew people still wearing their Sunday church clothes for free food and drinks, and a chance to view a project four years in the making. Dennis and Judy Carlin, of Joplin, said they wanted to tour the building because the hospital system reflects on the rest of the community. 
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