LMH paves way for new service

John Dahlin, Olathe, an employee with JE Dunn Construction, lays bricks on a western-facing addition at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, 325 Maine. The hospital is adding an 18-bed unit at this section that should be completed this summer. The hospital also is adding three stories on the east side of the building that will provide a new emergency department and expansion of the intensive care unit and maternity rooms.

Shawn Norris, with Huxtable & Associates, Lawrence, looks over building plans in what used to be the east-side entrance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Judy Harrison, radiology clerk, left, and Jeanie Hime, center, admissions clerk, work in a temporary space while construction on a new east wing at Lawrence Memorial Hospital is under way. At the end of current construction, all of the hospital's 173 beds will be in private rooms.

Experiencing a significant increase in patient visits, Lawrence Memorial Hospital is undergoing a $40 million expansion.

“Lawrence Memorial Hospital is growing to serve the growing community needs,” said Janice Early-Weas, director of community relations at LMH.

She said many times, patients rushing to the emergency department have to wait in hallways because of overcrowded conditions.

The emergency department was designed to accommodate 25,000 visits per year. In 2006, there were 31,000 visits, according to the hospital.

And there are other areas of congestion.

“In maternity, we are regularly having to move patients off the designated maternity unit. We have to overflow them to the third floor. That is pretty much the same story everywhere,” Early-Weas said.

LMH has embarked on a multiphase expansion.

The hospital is adding an 18-bed unit on the third floor of the west side of the building that should be completed this summer.

The hospital is adding three stories on the east side of the building that will provide a new emergency department, expansion of the intensive care unit and expansion of maternity rooms. That should be completed by the end of 2007.

After the emergency department moves to its new space, the current locale will be expanded for more surgery space in 2008 and 2009.

Also by the end of 2007, the hospital’s helipad will be moved from near the emergency department to the roof of the building.

At the end of this construction, all of the hospital’s 173 beds will be in private rooms.

“Private rooms are currently the standard for new hospital construction,” Early-Weas said.

It is both a safety issue to reduce infection control and a marketing necessity to respond to the preference of patients for privacy, she said.

“It seems rather archaic to share a room when you are sick,” she said.

The hospital also hopes to break ground this year to build a family practice office in Eudora.