Banner Baywood hospital to add new $38.5M ER

Banner Baywood Medical Center has streamlined the way it operates its emergency room, but the actual facility acts as an impediment to the advancement.

So next month, the hospital in Mesa will break ground on a new, $38.5 million ER with 54 patient rooms, including two major treatment rooms, bedside computers, electronic medical charts and the use of a CT scanning machine. The current ER has 42 beds.

While more space is necessary, it’s not the main reason for the new ER, said Don Evans, hospital CEO.

“The manner in which we process patients has changed; we have a much more efficient way of doing it,” he said. “It basically eliminates the old traditional lobby area and rather we get the patient right into a treatment area. Literally as soon as they walk in, they’re assessed by a nurse. It’s literally form following function.”

The new ER will be ready for occupancy in August 2009, and construction will have no effect on the current ER because it will be a separate facility on the south side of the hospital complex, Evans said.

Hospitals across the Valley are constantly having to plan for expansion to accommodate ongoing population growth, said Adda Alexander, executive vice president of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association.

“For many years Arizona, including the East Valley, has experienced tremendous growth,” she said. “These expansions will help serve the health care needs of Arizonans for years to come.”

Banner Baywood’s current ER is 20 years old, has been expanded several times and is not efficient, Evans said. Patient rooms are separated only by curtains, not solid walls, and there is no formal grieving area, he said.

“There’s just a whole bunch of functional things that are missing,” he said. “On top of it all, there are times where it is busy and we just need more space.”

On Jan. 1, 2006, Banner Baywood blocked new patient access to its ER for three hours because it was filled to capacity. The ER was slammed because of severe flu cases and an influx of winter visitors.

The expansion isn’t in direct response to that overcrowding because it has since opened a new patient tower and added numerous patient beds, Evans said.

“Right now, the average wait time for a patient to see a doctor in the ER is about 30 minutes, which is great,” he said.

Banner Baywood’s ER currently sees about 55,000 patients annually, and the new ER will be able to accommodate 20,000 more patients, Evans said.

“The new ER allows us to make sure that we functionally take care of the needs of the patient using whatever state-of-the-art of medicine necessary,” he said. “For instance, there will be a CT scanner housed in the ER, so patients won’t have to be transferred to radiology. We can’t do that now.”

Also in the works at Banner Baywood is a new, freestanding cancer treatment facility, Evans said. Construction isn’t expected for at least a few years, he said.

“We see a lot of cancer patients, but this would be for outpatient procedures, which we aren’t currently doing,” he said.