When Coral Springs Medical Center opened 22 years ago, Coral Springs was a young city of 47,000 people. The city has nearly tripled in size since then, but the size of the emergency department at the hospital has not changed.
That, however, is soon going to be a thing of the past.
In the first major expansion since the hospital’s inception, the size of the emergency room will go up from a little more than 12,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet. The expanded facility will have 40 beds. Work on the project, expected to begin this month, will be completed by December 2010. The groundbreaking ceremony took place Jan. 28.
Patrick Maloney, Medical Center CEO, said the expanded emergency room would be a tremendous asset for the community. “Every patient will have a private room. We will be able to take care of more patients as well. This will be an emergency room that the community deserves.”
“The number of beds in the emergency room will go up from 23 to 40,” said Drew Grossman, chief operating officer of the medical center. “We will have 26 adult, eight pediatric and six fast track beds. Due to the expansion, we will lose 50 parking spots. The expanded emergency room will have a new entrance.”
The expanded facility will be the best in Florida, said Daniel Stone, emergency room medical director. “We are very excited. We will now be able to help more people not only from Coral Springs but also places like Tamarac, Coconut Creek, Margate and Parkland. We see 48,000 patients every year now. We will be able to take care of at least 60,000 after expansion.”