NORTHAMPTON — The cost of expanding, renovating and reconfiguring Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s Emergency Department has risen nearly 25% since last year, leaving boosters to shore up funding ahead of a groundbreaking in the spring, while the existing space is seeing historic numbers of patients.
As with other significant projects in the region, including the Jones Library expansion in Amherst, costs have risen over initial estimates because of inflation and pandemic-related disruptions in supply chains, according to Cooley’s Senior Development Officer Jenn Margolis. The number of patients visiting the Emergency Department today is more than double when it opened in 1975.
In 2019, the hospital’s board of trustees identified the need to overhaul the Emergency Department. The original $15.5 million price tag now stands at $19.76 million and Cooley is asking for $8 million from the community. So far, the fundraising campaign has collected $5.15 million, according to Cooley spokesperson Christina Trinchero.
On Sunday, 600 runners in the Happy Valley Half Marathon & 5K raised thousands for the project. Cooley was a sponsor and the beneficiary of the morning run, held at Look Park and organized by Impact Racing Events.
“There were literally people of all ages there. There was a woman in her late 80s who did it, and my 6-year-old son did it,” Margolis said. “They hadn’t done the race in a few years because of COVID, but they sold out.”
Grant Ritter, co-owner of Impact Racing Events, said runners’ donations are not fully tallied yet, but sponsorships brought in $14,000.
The two-year project calls for adding 6,600 square feet of space, more beds and private rooms, enhanced behavioral health services, a redesign that puts the nurses’ station in the center of the department, and a reconfiguration of both the ambulance bay and the traffic pattern in front of the entrance, among other changes.
Margolis said the current Emergency Department is 40% smaller than it needs to be to properly serve the community.
“Our patients receive care in an environment that can feel confusing, crowded and without privacy,” a hospital fundraising solicitation reads. “And our dedicated providers are disjointed from one another, meaning that they need to work harder to ensure effective communication, monitor patients and access vital equipment. This will only get worse as more people turn to Cooley Dickinson for their life-saving care.”
The annual number of patients has more than doubled from about 17,000 in the 1970s, according to figures provided by Cooley. From last October to the start of this month, the hospital said 35,493 patients were seen in the Emergency Department. The hospital projects that 39,000 patients will visit annually by 2024.
Right now, there are 23 rooms with 26 beds; the expansion will add nine rooms and six beds. Instead of 17 private rooms, there will be 24.
“We’re going to embed a CT scanner inside the ED, which will really speed up scans,” Margolis said. “In emergencies, seconds and minutes are important.”
In May, bankESB donated a challenge grant to the fundraising drive. For every $2 donated through the end of the year, bankESB will give $1, up to a maximum of $500,000.
“BankESB has issued Cooley Dickinson Hospital a challenge to raise $1 million by (Dec. 31), at which point they will give us an additional $500K,” Trinchero wrote in an email. “To date, we have raised $632K toward that goal.”
Last year, Amherst residents John and Lise Armstrong donated $1 million.
“We live in a retirement community with 115 other elderly people, many of whom need Emergency Department services,” Lise Armstrong told the Daily Hampshire Gazette at the time. “For their sake, as well as for our own possible future needs, we’re glad to have a role in making the Emergency Department as efficient and up-to-date as possible.”
Dr. R.F. Conway was Cooley’s chief of emergency medicine from 1984 to 2015. He is now the hospital’s director of urgent care and a co-chair of the project’s fundraising effort.
“Anything that happens in the hospital is of interest to me,” Conway said. “These are all things that have been on my wishlist for many years.”
The Emergency Department now has four dedicated behavioral health beds; two will be added and they will all become “swing beds,” Conway said, meaning that if they are not needed for behavioral health patients, they can used for medical patients. Also, there will be an area dedicated to “minor” illnesses and injuries to improve the flow of patients and prevent the unnecessary use of a bed.
“The increase in size is huge,” said Dr. Michelle Helms, also a fundraising campaign co-chair. “If you have to be here, at least it will be a little nicer.”
Helms suggested that community members approach businesses or their own employers and ask them to sponsor the campaign.
Donations can be made at cooleydickinson.org/giving.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.