Nash Health Care’s Board of Commissioners gave its final approval to construction plans for a new Emergency Department and Nash Heart Center on the campus of Nash Health Care. The new Emergency Department will feature a separate entrance and specialized area for pediatric patients. The new Nash Heart Center will be located on the two floors above the new Emergency Department. This $57-million investment represents the most significant building expansion the hospital has experienced since the facility opened in 1971.

The current Emergency Care Center at Nash Health Care is one of the busiest emergency rooms in North Carolina. Opened in 1993, it was originally designed to accommodate around 40,000 patients a year. In 2011, the Emergency Care Center saw an estimated 65,000 patients. While hospital officials considered expanding the present Emergency Care Center, architectural studies revealed that it was more efficient and economically feasible to build a new Emergency Department than to expand the current one.

The result will be a new, innovative, state-of-the-art facility, adding 20 more treatment rooms.

The new Emergency Department will be able to accommodate an estimated 80,000 patients a year. The building expansion will feature a total of three new floors. The new Emergency Department will be located on the ground floor, and the Nash Heart Center will occupy the second and third floors.  The Nash Heart Center will feature new invasive cardiology and catheterization labs, 12 patient observation rooms and eight critical care rooms. The Nash Heart Center operates in partnership with the East Carolina Heart Institute and the Boice-Willis Clinic.

“This project is vital to the health of our community,” said  Mike Bryant, chairman of the Nash Health Care Board of Commissioners. “This is a proud day not just for our hospital, but for our area citizens---it demonstrates an enormous commitment to our community; the largest one we have made since our facility opened in the early 70s.”

The architect for the project is Rodgers Builders.  A groundbreaking is scheduled for March. The facility is scheduled for completion in December 2013.

“Hospitals have a responsibility to the communities they serve. Our dedication to providing superior quality health care services made us realize that expanding our emergency care services and creating a new heart center was not an option—it was a necessity in order to continue to meet the needs of our area,” said Larry Chewning, CEO of Nash Health Care. “We are excited about this expansion, and we are even more pleased that it will allow citizens to receive more extensive care locally in their own community.”

Planned construction has made it necessary to move the main entrance to Nash Day Hospital, which became functional December 5. Additionally, work will begin in January on the main entrance. Guests coming to campus should be aware of changed traffic patterns and be alert to follow new hospital campus signage.