CLEARLAKE — St. Helena Hospital, Clearlake Emergency Department (ED) will take an estimated 10 months longer for construction to begin than originally planned.
Work will not begin until August, according the hospital”s spokespeople.
Peggy Dixon, regional marketing director of St. Helena Hospital said, “Construction for the new portion of the emergency department is scheduled to begin this August with an anticipated completion of August 2012.”
“During construction, the emergency department will be fully-operational, with minimal interruptions,” Dixon said.
According to Vice President of Operations, David Santos, the construction was postponed 10 months because shortly after the ceremonial wall-breaking it was discovered that the drawings had a discrepancy regarding weight-bearing posts. Making adjustments to the original plans during construction would have increased the cost as much as 50 percent. Santos said that the postponement will have shortened the overall construction time-line and create a more smooth process.
Joshua Cowan, vice president of marketing, said the August start date is a “pretty solid date.”
Cowan pointed out that the hospital is moving ahead with other improvements, including upgraded mammogram equipment.
“Mammogram equipment was upgraded to a digital system. This will provide better quality images,” Cowan said.
Mammogram services resume this month.
Santos said, “Our goal is to improve the quality of life and health for patients of Lake County. We want to drive down wait times, length of stay and increase access to precision care.”
Santos addressed some challenges, “This is a rural area and some specialties are not represented locally. We provide access to many of those specialties through our specialty clinic in Hidden Valley Lake, our three family health clinics in Middletown, Clearlake and Kelseyville, and through our emergency department at St. Helena Hospital, Clear Lake.”
He said the emergency department provides access to care for every patient regardless of their ability to pay. Many patients can also be seen at the family health clinics.
There is no cardiac catheterization lab available at the Clear Lake campus. When a cardiac patient requires this level of care he/she are often transferred to St. Helena Hospital, Napa Valley.
In cases that require the coronary artery to be opened using a cath procedure, helicopter transportation is available to provide faster access to this lifesaving care, according to administrators.
Mandy Feder can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 32.
