Marion General to open its addition
Patients arriving at Marion General Hospital in the near future can expect to see a new look in the eastern part of the facility.
The Ohiohealth hospital will officially open its 3-story, 60,000 square foot addition to the public Tuesday. According to a news release, the wing will feature 24 spacious medical/surgical and 24 intermediate private patient rooms.
In addition, the hospital’s new east building will serve as the primary entry point into the hospital. Parking remains in front of the hospital and free valet service will be located at the new entrance.
Partners for the project included Gilbane Construction, Cannon Design, Hill International and M Engineering.
The lobby of the east entrance is expansive, and features a front desk and a waiting area with leather armchairs and wood-paneled walls.
“One of the key goals that we talked about was when hospitals have additions or renovations, it can be hard to find your way around,” said Chief Operating Officer Dr. Curtis Gingrich at a media tour of the new facility Friday. “And so, when we built this, one of the key parts we wanted to do was as this became the focal point entrance, you have the access to the elevators for this building.
“It’s bright and open, it just shows that difference of how we build hospitals.”
The completion of the expansion is the final piece of a three-phase, $46.15 million construction project that started on the Marion Medical Campus. The $3 million endoscopy unit opened in August 2019 and the $1 million renovation of the green entrance lobby was completed last year. The hospital addition cost about $31 million, said Justin Hamper, the administrative director of clinical operations and operations administration.
All rooms in the hospital that are currently semi-private will eventually be converted to private rooms in an effort to better accommodate the needs of individual patients.
Hamper said during a media tour in September that the architecture of Marion General’s new addition reflects the “Ohiohealth brand” with the use of more glass, wood, and stone features in the design of the building. He said the hospital wants to have a similar look to
Dublin Methodist Hospital or Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus.
On the third floor is a waiting room for maternity care patients and visitors, with floor-to-ceiling windows, hanging light fixtures and two TVS.
“When you look at what we had for women’s health, and people waiting while someone was delivering, it was really sad,” Gingrich said. “It was smaller, and just kind of closed in and just felt not really relaxing. So, this will be a new, better place for that to be connected in through the main building.”
The patient rooms feature a zone for families to sit that is out of the way of the patient and medical staff, a night light to help guide patients to the bathroom and recessed lighting in case a nurse or doctor wants to check on the patient when they are sleeping.
In addition, the bathrooms have a non-slip floor and pole bar.
Some patients received a preview of the new rooms when the second floor opened a few weeks ago.
“They’re really impressed with the things we wanted them to feel,” Gingrich said. “So, we give high quality care, we want them to feel that high-quality care.”
The new wing will be exclusively for patients who do not have the coronavirus, but is Covid-ready in case MGH needs the extra space.
“It would have to get really ugly for us to have to move COVID patients into this space,” said Hamper.
Other features of the new building include charging stations for ecofriendly vehicles that run on electricity.