Patients visiting the emergency department at OSF St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg are already seeing shorter wait times following the completion of a 7,000-square-foot expansion designed to increase capacity and improve patient flow.
Hospital officials, employees, community members, clergy, and members of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis gathered Tuesday for a blessing and dedication ceremony marking the completion of the project.
The expansion was years in the making, and includes six new patient rooms, a triage room, and an updated waiting area.
Dr. Nathaniel Baker is the managing medical director for the emergency department. He said prior to the expansion, the hospital consistently heard that patients were frustrated with long wait times — and that they don’t like being treated in beds in hallways of the emergency department.
But with the new rooms, they can see more people in the same amount of time, which has already decreased wait times by 30%. Baker said the triage room allows medical staff, such as advanced practice providers, to begin evaluating patients before treatment rooms are available.
“That way they can get a little idea of what's going on, what testing needs to be done, so we can get imaging ordered, we can get labs ordered,” Baker said. “So that all can be in process even while people are still waiting in the waiting room.”
Baker said minutes matter in emergency medicine.
"You have people who are having a heart attack and you don't know until you can get them back and get an EKG and take a look or get lab testing done," he said. "People who are having a stroke and you don't know until you can have a physician or APP go and evaluate them and see the signs of that and get the right testing done.”
Baker said the refreshed waiting room has good natural light and that can also make a difference for patients who are already in an uncomfortable situation.
Another part of the project is designating two of the six new rooms for patients suffering from behavioral health issues.
“It’s going to make a big difference for people that sometimes have to wait several days to find a place that they can get the care they need,” Baker said. “And it will allow us to be a lot more efficient in caring for those patients as well.”
Zach Yoder, president of OSF’s Western Region, said projects like the emergency department expansion in Galesburg are about making sure people can get safe and quality care close to home.
“We know how difficult it is for folks to travel and we know how difficult it is for people to seek care outside of their communities. And we think that our communities also just know our patients best,” Yoder said. “So we really want to make sure that we're bringing as many services in a timely manner to the folks of the greater Galesburg area.”
The Western Region includes the Galesburg, Monmouth, and Kewanee hospitals, which provide care to around 85,000 people.
Yoder said OSF has a lot on the horizon to keep quality care close to home in rural areas, from cancer care and expansion of cardiology services to implementing robotics approaches and recruiting gastrointestinal physicians and urologists.
"We know we can't do everything, but we can do most things close to home. Depending on the complexity of what you have going on, we'll triage and take care of you based on that locality,” Yoder said. “If you need to transfer somewhere else to receive a higher level, then we anticipate bringing you back to receive that supplement care back closer to home as well.”
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