Citizens should expect the new Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital
emergency room, part of a wider health-care expansion by the
district, should be open by late December of this year, hospital
officials told the Free Lance.
HOLLISTER
Citizens should expect the new Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital emergency room, part of a wider health-care expansion by the district, should be open by late December of this year, hospital officials told the Free Lance.
The emergency room construction, funded with part of $32 million in Measure L dollars approved by voters in May 2005, started in March 2008 and has an expected completion date of Dec. 31 this year, said Frankie Arballo, Hazel Hawkins’ spokeswoman.
With the E.R.’s limited space and tendency to create long waits at times, the new facility is expected to have capacity to serve as many as 30,000 patients a year in 14,000 square feet of space, more than doubling the size of the existing emergency room. It will include seven private treatment rooms, three trauma bays, four negative-pressure treatment rooms for communicable diseases and a fast-track unit to speed up the visit for those with less-urgent matters, Arballo noted.
The Measure L funds also are going toward construction of a new support services building and a new women’s center. Arballo expects the support services building to be occupied by June. She expects groundbreaking for the women’s center next spring with construction lasting about 18 months.
For the E.R., hospital officials originally had estimated a late summer completion. It has been “slowed down” due to weather, Arballo said.
Look for an expanded story on health-care expansion in San Benito County in the annual Pride edition coming out at month’s end.
