PLYMOUTH- Speare Memorial Hospital is undergoing major renovations to better serve Plymouth and surrounding communities. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on October 28, and construction is expected to go on into 2006.
According to director of communication relations, Natalie Rudzinskyj, the 23,000 square feet addition will cost approximately 15 million dollars paid by tax exemption bonds, capital campaign fundraising, and hospital reserves. According to Rudzinskyj, the focus of the renovation is improving the organization of the hospital, creating more efficiency and modernizing the infrastructure
“The expansion/renovation will create two distinct and identifiable entrances to the hospital,” according to a press release, “a new front entrance will serve outpatients and visitors.” The new facility will house an expanded surgical suite, emergency department, and radiology department. According to the press release, the surgical suite will be expanded by sixty-five percent, “to address increased patient volumes and to allow for greater privacy.
The current emergency department was designed in 1998, for an estimated “9,000 patients per visit,” but this year alone the department has exceeded 18,000 visits. The new department will expand by sixty-two percent, “resulting in a higher level of patient privacy and separation of trauma, urgent and walk-in care patients,” the press release stated. The expanded radiation department will accommodate state-of-the-art equipment and will grow by forty-one percent.
A new cardiac rehabilitation center will be available for cardiac patients. The cardiac department will include a modern gym that, according to the press release, “will enable patients to receive services without leaving their community.”
The expansion also includes larger oncology, obstetrics, and laboratory department, and the hospital pharmacy will also grow to double it’s original size. Also included in the construction will be upgrades in the heating, cooling, and electrical systems. Rudzinskyj said it was “hard to gauge at this point” exactly how much new staff would be necessary. She did believe there will be a need for more administrative and support staff.
As of now Speare Memorial Hospital serves sixteen communities that represent a “rural population of 27,000.” Towns represented include Ashland, Holderness, Plymouth, Lincoln, Rumney and Waterville Valley. For two years in a row, Speare Memorial Hospital has been on the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals in the country for “small community hospitals.” Solucient is an organization dedicated to growth in the healthcare field.