U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is joined by local leaders to celebrate and tour the completion of A New St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford
| For Immediate Release | Contact: Joyce Faria Brennan |
| July 16, 2007 | 508-961-5270 |
| brennanj@southcoast.org | |
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Click here for a fact sheet about the New St. Luke's
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Rep. Barney Frank touring ER (300 dpi / 5.2 MB)
Ribbon cutting ceremony (300 dpi / 3.6 MB)The three-year, $33 million project has changed the way health care is delivered in the Greater New Bedford region and includes a new highly technical and efficiently designed Emergency Department, the renovation and expansion of three inpatient floors, an expanded high-tech cardiac catheterization lab and the new McBratney Amphitheatre for medical education and conferences.
"I am pleased that I was able to play a role in helping St. Luke's carry out this important emergency room renovation project," Rep. Frank said. "The new ER will improve the hospital's ability to continue providing New Bedford and the surrounding communities with high-quality medical care. If we had a better overall health care system in this country, emergency rooms might not play as significant a part, but until we reach that point, it is especially important to have up to date facilities like this one."
Rep. Frank was joined by Massachusetts State Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang and New Bedford City Councilor Jane Gonsalves, Ward 5, at the dedication ceremony held at the new Emergency Department.
John B. Day, President & CEO of Southcoast Health System, thanked local officials for their ongoing support and said the people of Greater New Bedford, along with the staff and physicians are already benefiting from the redesigned and updated facility.
"Rep. Frank has always been a great advocate for this region and a great friend to Southcoast Hospitals. Along with Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and Rep. Jim McGovern, Barney was instrumental in helping secure funding for this project, knowing that it would have a direct impact on each and every person in our region," Day said to local leaders, donors to the project and hospital staff at today's ribbon cutting ceremony.
"The three-year, $33 million construction project is already reaping benefits — we have more space in the Emergency Department, more patient beds on our nursing floors and additional capacity in our cardiac cath lab," Day said. "It is, indeed, our greatest achievement to know we are doing everything possible to improve the health of our communities."
The new St. Luke's addresses the challenges of being one of the state's busiest emergency departments, treating more than 73,000 patients a year, and the region's only provider of advanced heart services in an area that has the highest heart disease rate in the state.
"Today marks a new beginning for St. Luke's," said Ronald B. Goodspeed, MD, MPH, President of Southcoast Hospitals Group. "Our expanded Emergency Department contains 51 new treatment bays that ensures privacy and reduces wait times. We have added 33 more patient beds in spacious rooms that are helping alleviate delays for surgery and waits in the ER. We also relocated the cardiac cath lab and added a second room to enhance the advanced heart diagnostic and treatment options available locally only at Southcoast."
Better patient flow, increased space for patients and their families and shorter wait times have resulted in increased satisfaction for all who come in contact with the new ER but there is still work to be done.
"We are going through each part of patient care systematically to increase efficiencies at every level," Dr. Goodspeed said. "It is our goal to bring the people of Greater New Bedford the very best Emergency Department, more patient beds and better access to the essential services they need most."
Gilbert Shapiro, MD, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Southcoast Health System, Co-Chair of the Campaign for a New St. Luke's and longstanding area physician, said St. Luke's is a valued and unique treasure in this community.
"We are the only hospital serving the people of greater New Bedford," Dr. Shapiro said. "The public puts their trust in us to provide them with superior medical care — care that is there when they need it, day or night. None of what we accomplished through this construction and renovation project would have been possible without the support of the community."
For more information on the New St. Luke's please see attached Fact Sheet or visit www.southcoast.org/stlukes/.
About Southcoast
Southcoast Health System, a not-for-profit charitable organization, is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of advanced health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes Southcoast Hospitals Group, formed in 1996 from the merger of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.
Southcoast has more than 40 ancillary facilities, including the Southcoast Health Van, home health care, hospice and infusion services, numerous outpatient medical services, an assisted living facility and a wellness center. For more information visit www.southcoast.org.
Southcoast is one of three community hospitals approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to perform open heart surgery and primary angioplasty beginning in Spring 2002.
Media Contact
Joyce Faria Brennan
Phone: 508-961-5270
Pager: 508-387-9605
Fax: 508-961-5876
brennanj@southcoast.org
