Van Wert Hospital to expand ER

By Mary Grothause, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Saturday, November 15, 2008 (1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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The new 12,000-square-foot emergency services area will feature 11 treatment rooms, 10 universal and one trauma room. The new entrance will face the northwest and have two entrances, one for ambulances and one for walk-in patients.By MARY M. GROTHAUSE
The Delphos Herald

VAN WERT — The Van Wert County Hospital announced Thursday the pledge dollar amount secured to date for the $6 million planned expansion of its Emergency Services Department.
Two million of the project cost will be underwritten from the hospital reserves with the remaining costs coming from pledges made over a 5-year period by area businesses and individuals. As of Thursday morning, $3,072,076 has been raised for the expansion project.
The current emergency services department has only five patient areas, containing seven total patient beds. The rooms lack space and privacy. During 2007, more than 2,000 patients received treatment in the hallways.
Van Wert County Hospital President and CEO Mark Minick said, “We’ve had 17,000 admissions this year, most of them through the emergency room. Three times this year, we’ve  had to go on diversion and send patients to other hospitals. We felt this was the most economical and the best project for our hospital.”
The new 12,000-square-foot emergency services area will feature 11 treatment rooms, 10 universal and one trauma room. The new entrance will face the northwest and have two entrances, one for ambulances and one for walk-in patients.
Minick pointed out the benefits of being a community hospital.
“The decisions are made locally and the patient’s quality of life is best served. New industries and others moving to a community look at the quality of housing, schools and health care,” he added.
Keynote speaker was Mike Schatzlein with Lutheran Health Network, who spoke about national trends in health care. Schatzlein did the first heart transplant in Indiana and oversaw the surgeries of nine others who are the longest-living heart transplant patients in the nation.
Schatzlein said the overall national trend is for patients to come to the emergency room because they have no family doctor or insurance but need medical treatment. In 2007, Van Wert County Hospital absorbed $3,600,000 in Medicare reimbursement losses, $1,800,000 in Medicaid loss and $1,300,000 in bad debt. They also provided nearly $400,000 in charity care.
The expanded Emergency Services Department would nearly double the current treatment areas when completed. The addition would be built adjacent to other hospital departments often accessed by emergency services for convenience sake.
The fund-raising campaign will continue into early March 2009 and after a successful outcome, construction on the facility would begin within the next three months.

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