By Tim Healy
tim.healy@newsday.com
Huntington Hospital is reconfiguring its emergency room, which has seen more than a 6 percent increase in patients during the past five years.
The reconfiguration includes a “fast track” area for patients who don’t need extensive care and can be dealt with quickly, a new nursing station and a pediatric urgent care area. The overall changes are part of an effort to quickly “enhance privacy, comfort and efficiency,” according to Theresa Jacobellis, the hospital’s spokeswoman.
The renovation will be followed eventually by an overhaul and expansion of the ER once the hospital and architects finish feasibility studies and figure out what will be needed in the future. Groundbreaking on the larger project is “probably a year away,” Jacobellis said.
Visits rose to 45,500 last year from 42,900 in 2002, for an average of 125 people a day according to Jacobellis, who said “They do get crowded here sometimes.” She said that about a third of the people who come to the emergency room for treatment are admitted, accounting for 86 percent of the hospital’s admissions and making the ER the front door to the hospital for many.
To help foot the bill for the $400,000 renovation underway, which is expected to be completed before the end of the year, the hospital is raffling off a two-year lease on a 2007 Porsche Boxter or Cayman, or $10,000 in cash. The hospital is working with the Long Island Automotive Group and Porsche of Huntington. Tickets, which are $25 each, three for $50 or nine for $100, can be purchased from the cashier in the hospital’s main lobby or by calling the hospital, 631-351-7040, ext. 101. The drawing will be held in October in connection with the Long Island Festival in Huntington.
The hospital is also raising funds through a direct-mail solicitation, by seeking new donors and by holding a dinner-dance Sept. 28 and the Vanderbilt Museum.
Caption: Workers at Huntington Hospital prepare the fast track area next. Newsday Photo/Daniel Goodrich
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