GREENFIELD — Baystate Franklin Medical Center patients going in for surgery next week will be among the first to do so in the hospital’s brand new surgical wing.
Construction of the $26 million facility has been completed, and its first patients are scheduled for surgery at 7:30 a.m. Monday.
The wing will replace the previous surgical suite with four new, larger operating rooms and related patient care areas. It also includes renovation of the existing surgery suite for use by the endoscopy department so that it is directly adjacent to the surgery area.
Space for emergency surgery will be available over the weekend, even as the final moves are made between the old and new facility, hospital staff said.
The new 55,000-square-foot wing has four state-of-the-art surgical suites, hospital spokeswoman Phyllis Stone said. One is 500 square feet, two are 650 square feet, and the fourth is 750 square feet. The average size of the current operating rooms is 450 square feet.
The larger rooms will be able to house large pieces of medical equipment necessary for complex surgical procedures, and one of the rooms is also lead-lined to accommodate today’s advanced technologies and more intricate procedures, as well as future surgical technologies.
“Creating state-of-the-art surgical space to keep care local and attract new physician talent to the area, and provide more comfortable, private patient-care areas, have been the driving themes behind this project from the start,” the hospital leaders said in a press release touting the new space. “These goals are shared by Baystate Franklin and its parent health care system, Baystate Health, which also owns Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Baystate Health has been actively working to provide the highest possible level of services close to patients’ homes in communities across western Massachusetts,” the release read.
Sterile processing will also move into a larger space on the same floor as the operating rooms. Right now, it’s located on the ground floor, beneath the surgical suites and surgical equipment must be transported along corridors and up an elevator.
The new building also includes 20 pre- and post-operation patient bays, separated by walls rather than curtains, for privacy.
After their surgery, patients will return to the same area where they were prepped for surgery, potentially even to the same bay. The post-anesthesia care unit, new waiting room, lobby and healing garden were specifically designed to provide the most comfortable experience for patients and their families.
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