JOPLIN, Mo. —
Work on Thursday was proceeding on the top two floors of the Gary and Donna Hall Tower at Freeman Hospital West, where 58 new patient rooms are being created to help meet increasing demand.
The construction cost is $10 million, with an additional $4 million to $5 million in equipment costs, said Jeffrey Carrier, Freeman chief nursing officer. The project is being financed through a bond issue. Hospital officials have gone before the Joplin Industrial Development Authority to seek the issuance of bonds.
The added rooms also will add 80 to 100 jobs to the hospital payroll.
DeWitt & Associates Inc., of Springfield, is the main contractor on the project.
Each floor has 24,000 square feet of space, Carrier said. The fifth floor, scheduled for completion in April 2012, will have 29 private rooms. The beds will be medical-surgical beds.
The sixth-floor rooms will have 16 medical-surgical beds and 13 surgical-intensive care unit beds. Carrier said those rooms also will be private rooms. That work is scheduled to be finished in July 2012.
“They’re very spacious, nice, private rooms,” Carrier said. Each room will have an area of 318 square feet.
He said the additional rooms will decrease wait times for patients, because the addition will improve the flow.
The other floors of the tower include rooms with general surgery and orthopedic beds.
After the May 22 tornado struck St. John’s Regional Medical Center, just north of Freeman, the patient load increased dramatically at Freeman.
“Since May 22, our average daily census has increased by 15 percent to 25 percent,” Carrier said. “That’s 40 to 60 additional patients each day. This is our response to that growing demand.”
Carrier said officials were thankful that they had flexible space available to make the changes. Before the construction project began, the fifth floor was being used for storage. The sixth floor has offices and storage areas.
“What’s really neat is we got patient involvement in designing the rooms,” Carrier said. He said that was done through patient satisfaction surveys and patients serving on a design team.
He said patients told hospital officials that the showers weren’t large enough, so they will be larger in the new rooms. The new rooms will have high-definition televisions. The rooms also will feature warmer colors and a more homey appearance.
St. John’s
ST. JOHN’S REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER is housed in temporary buildings until its new hospital opens in 2014 just south of Interstate 44 and Hearnes Boulevard.
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Related Photos
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Jeffrey Carrier, chief nursing officer, on Thursday talks about Freeman Health System’s plans for adding 58 patient rooms on the top two floors of Freeman Hospital West in Joplin. The $15 million project will add the rooms to the fifth and sixth floors of the Gary and Donna Hall Tower. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
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Freeman adding 58 new rooms on top floors of hospital tower
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