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Milestone reached in construction of expanded emergency department at LVH-Cedar Crest
Dawn Ouellette Nixon//November 21, 2019
Milestone reached in construction of expanded emergency department at LVH-Cedar Crest
Dawn Ouellette Nixon//November 21, 2019//
Listen to this articleThe last steel beam has been placed on Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest’s expanded emergency department in Salisbury Township.
A topping off ceremony for the $111 million project was held on Nov. 21, where members of the hospital community watched as the beam was raised and put in place.
Lehigh Valley Health Network employees signed the steel beam before a crane slowly lifted it into place. Roughly 700 tons of steel were used to frame the building, which is 650 feet long.
The expanded facility will include an adult emergency room, opening in late 2020 and a children’s ER, opening in mid-2021.
The number of adult ER beds will rise from the current number of 42 to 97. The number of children’s ER beds will also increase, growing from 12 to 27. Three trauma bays will bring the total number of beds to 127.
For patients who need additional care but do not require an inpatient hospital stay, the expanded ER will include a 59-bed observation unit for adults, and a 12-bed observation unit for children.
The ER and observation units are built as modules to be opened and closed as needed, allowing the ER to have up to 151 beds. This will make the LVH-Cedar Crest ER the largest in Pennsylvania, according to Dr. David Burmeister, chair of the department of emergency and hospital medicine at LVHN.
Currently, the LVH-Cedar Crest ER gives care to approximately 90,000 people per year.
“The most important thing that this facility provides is peace of mind,” said Burmeister, “and that’s because of the people who work in this facility…in the emergency department, on the in-patient units, in the observation units, in the operating rooms, everyone in this entire facility.”
The LVH-Cedar Crest ER will remain open and fully functional during the construction of the expansion project.
