Salem Health is investing $3M to expand the Salem Hospital emergency department to meet the needs of the growing community and create an improved experience for patients.

In the eight year life of the hospital’s Building A, this will be the third expansion to the ED. Demolition started in September.

Rapid population growth in the Mid-Willamette Valley means growing healthcare needs and Salem Health is working to address those needs. Salem Hospital’s emergency department is already the busiest ED on the West Coast between Canada and San Diego, seeing over 300 patients per day on average, and this expansion is necessary to meet health care needs as the population grows.

“At Salem Health, our first priority is caring for our local communities,” said Sarah Horn, RN, MBA, BSN, Salem Health chief nursing officer. “As we plan for the projected population growth as well as what our community needs of us today, this additional space will allow us to enhance some of our current processes and models of care.  Essentially, this expansion allows us to be prepared for our communities’ needs in the coming years, while increasing our levels of service and reducing wait times.”

The plan for expansion includes more exam rooms and a new treatment track for patients with less complicated diagnoses. The expansion will decrease the time it takes for patients to see a provider and create a better patient experience throughout the process for all patients.

“We continually study patient flow processes in the ED as we know the satisfaction of our patients is heavily associated with the amount of time they wait to be seen by a provider,” said Jill Fulkerson, RN, MBA-HCM, Salem Hospital emergency and psychiatric services director.  

The new expansion is set to go live in February 2018.

Salem Health offers exceptional care to people in and around Oregon’s Mid-Willamette Valley. It comprises hospitals in Salem and Dallas, a medical group of primary and specialty care providers, plus other affiliated services. Visit us at www.salemhealth.org; “Like” us on www.facebook.com/salemhealth; follow us on Twitter: @salemhealth; and view us at www.youtube.com/salemhealth.