With $78M plans, St. Joe’s officials look to get ahead of future growth
Officials at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank want to make sure the hospital is able to provide a high-level of service to the community as the region grows.
In September 2018, hospital officials submitted plans for a proposed 34,500-square-foot emergency room as well as a new 5,500s-square-foot urgent-care facility at the 75-year-old hospital, located on the corner of Buena Vista Street and Alameda Avenue in Burbank.
According to a presentation this past March, planners propose 44 beds for the new emergency room, all located in individual private rooms, as well as improved triage areas and its own dedicated imaging lab.
In comparison, the current emergency room is 13,800 square feet with 44 beds, but they are not in individual rooms.
The new emergency room would be located near Buena Vista, where the cardiac rehab facility and emergency-room employee parking used to be.
Kelly Linden, chief executive of Providence St. Joseph, said on Tuesday that the proposed project is necessary to meet the higher demands and volume of patients going through the emergency room.
She added that the emergency room alone sees about 71,000 patients annually.
“We’re just not designed for the current volume as well as future growth,” Linden said. “As a result, the new emergency department will be triple the size of our current emergency department and will be designed in a way to handle workflows more effectively.”
Also, Linden said the new emergency room will be better equipped to serve those with mental-health issues.
The proposed urgent-care facility, which will be the first of its kind at Providence St. Joseph, is planned to be located on Buena Vista next to Providence High School and across from the new emergency room.
Linden said it’s the hospital’s responsibility to provide access and the right level of care at the right cost to its patients, and she thinks the proposed urgent-care facility will do just that.
“This urgent-care facility will provide that added benefit,” she said. “We’re thrilled to provide this level of care to our patients. Having these expanded facilities will [accelerate] and advance our care further for the community.”
Should the application process go smoothly, Linden said she expects the new facilities to be up and running by 2022.
The project is projected to cost the hospital about $78 million. Linden said $61 million has already been raised through donations from the public and added that the entire project will be funded through community donors.
“We were founded through philanthropic support, and we continue to thrive because of that philanthropic support,” she said.
“Our community has stepped up on many different occasions, for our neural sciences program, our oncology program with the Disney Family Cancer Center and, today, with this new emergency department and urgent care center.” she added.
