Now that Newman Regional Health is in the final stages of adding a new emergency department and moving associated services nearby, what happens to the old emergency room?
Hospital CEO Bob Wright had the answer during KVOE’s New Year’s Eve Talk of Emporia on Monday. Therapy services, currently across the street at 12th and Chestnut, will occupy the vacated space.
Outpatient physical therapy will be on the ground floor. Occupational and speech therapy, along with inpatient therapy, will remain on second floor.
Information technology staff have now been moved to fourth floor in advance of this round of changes.
Once the change is made, Wright says there could well be some demolition and new construction at the site of the old therapy building. Wright says the existing building “has seen better years,” with the same foundation concerns that many homes and businesses have here in town. He says the current therapy building won’t serve the hospital’s needs 20 to 30 years down the road, so new construction is a likely option.
Wright has been quite pleased with the process leading to the new emergency department, which triples the amount of space and doubles the number of beds from the current facility. He also says things have gone smoothly as ExpressCare moved from Flinthills Mall to the emergency complex shortly before Christmas, and he expects a roughly 5-6 percent increase in emergency room traffic once the new facility opens Jan. 8.
