Mercy Gilbert Medical Center’s expanded intensive care unit will open Jan. 14, doubling the number of ICU beds at the hospital.
Twelve new ICU beds are being added in Tower B, the hospital’s newly constructed second wing, giving the hospital 24 ICU beds, said Cathy Frontczak, the new ICU director for Mercy Gilbert Medical Center.
“It really is going to help alleviate the growing need for critical care beds in the East Valley,” Frontczak said. “This area has been underbedded for many years.”
Frontczak joins Mercy Gilbert Medical Center’s staff from Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, where she served as director of cardiovascular and neurosurgical services. She has more than 21 years of experience.
Besides the newly expanded ICU unit, the hospital’s second wing will also have an orthopedic-neurology unit opening Jan. 2, and a pediatric ward and postsurgical unit opening Feb. 4.
The hospital also has plans to begin a new neurosurgery program, which is sorely lacking in the East Valley, in the spring, Frontczak said.
“The new neuroscience line will be one of our speciality service lines,” she said. “This will be a continuation of the general ICU, which includes medical, surgical and cardiac patients.”
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center is in need of registered nurses for the new departments. For information, call (480) 728-8399 or visit www.mercygilbert.org.
