Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: News

Kirksville's Northeast Regional Medical Center added four additional beds to their Critical Care Unit on Jan. 27 after a nine month, 770-square foot expansion.

Dianne Western, NRMC's director of marketing, public relations and physician outreach, said the renovation will allow for better care for expectant mothers, and the obstetrics unit will continue to function during construction.

"Work goes on, and we're going to take care of our patients," Western said. "We'll just relocate activities as we need it."

NRMC CEO Bob Moore said in a press conference Jan. 27 that NRMC turned away almost 100 patients in 2008 due to a lack of space. Moore said the addition brings the total in the CCU to 10 beds, and two additional beds will be added in 2011.

Moore said the $2.7 million project was necessary because of the hospital's recent growth, including the another of a full-time cardiologist in September. Moore announced plans to recruit another cardiologist this year and a $4 million renovation of the Obstetrics Unit stretching from March to the end of the year. Western said the new beds have been mostly filled since they became available on Dec. 15. She also said the expansion of the CCU opens up new nursing jobs.

Stephen Hadwiger, associate professor of nursing, said new jobs are very important for Truman nursing students right now. He said in the past nursing students have had jobs waiting for them at graduation, but with the recent decline in the job market, some nursing students still are looking for positions after graduation.

Hadwiger said the CCU regularly treats Truman students, so the additional beds benefit students because it is less likely they will be sent somewhere else when seriously injured.

Nursing Department Chair Stephanie Powelson said the improvements made to the hospital in the past year are good for both the community and nursing students. She said the bolstered cardiology care at NRMC is important because it provides the necessary quick response to heart attacks.

Powelson said the improved facilities and increase in nursing positions benefit nursing students by offering more opportunities for necessary hospital experience through university programs and internships.

Powelson toured the new facilities Tuesday and was impressed with the improvements and technology offered by the hospital. She said the hospital now has a single system that can display cardiac rhythms from multiple floors at once, which means the nursing staff can monitor many patients from a single place so nurses can focus on individual care.

Powelson said NRMC provides care to patients in counties surrounding Adair County where there are not local hospitals, so it is especially important for NRMC to be capable of providing immediate care to many patients at once, and these expansions are making that possible.

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