Updating, improving ANMC’s Emergency Department
October 21, 2016Categories: Alaska Native Medical Center
Opened in 1997, ANMC is almost 20 years old and experiencing the expected growing pains and aging challenges. To improve the care environment and provide the best service for our people, ANMC’s Strategic Access team is refreshing the Emergency Department (ED) on the first floor of the hospital. This project is a collaboration between several teams at ANMC and continues previous work that updated all inpatient rooms in the hospital. When the project is complete, visitors to the ED will see updates that reflect the quality of our care and staff in the ED will gain new amenities that help them in their work. The project, known as the Healthy Emergency Department, involves an extensive inspection of each room and area of the ED, which includes 10 patient beds, six exam rooms and two trauma care rooms. The improvements to the ED include: patching and repairing walls and giving rooms a fresh coat of paint; replacing flooring and baseboard trim; replacing all casework; replacing countertops and sinks and replacing all plumbing fixtures. In addition, the dirty and clean utility rooms have been reconfigured for improved efficiency, and new bacteria-resistant lockers will be installed in the employee locker room. The patient rooms were reconfigured for ease of use, which includes turning one of the rooms in to an ED eye room, specially designed for use in eye-related emergencies. Since the project started in July 2016, the work has progressed as quickly as our ED’s high patient census has allowed. New improvements will continue over the next several months, with the project slated for completion by of first quarter of 2017.