CLEARFIELD – In order to provide a more healing and safe environment, Penn Highlands Clearfield recently completed renovations to its Emergency Department trauma room.
“The upgrade to the trauma room not only enhances the appearance of that part of the Emergency Department, but, perhaps most important, it helps us to better serve the community. Our goal is to improve customer, physician and staff satisfaction,” said John Bacher, B.S.N., R.N., P.H.R.N., director, Penn Highlands Clearfield Emergency Department.
The renovation took place over two weeks in March and started with a fresh coat of paint on the walls, followed by installation of new flooring and privacy curtains in the four-bed bay.
Denny Bloom, facilities director, and the hospital’s maintenance employees were responsible for completing the project. The flooring was installed by Sandy Anderson of Clearfield and her company, Floor Coverings International.
“The paint on the walls is a crushed white, which enhances the visibility for the physicians and nurses to see better when assessing patients or performing procedures. Also, the floor is sealed. This prevents blood products and saline from permeating through to the concrete, which prevents decay,” Bacher explained.
Any time that upgrades or renovations take place, especially in a busy Emergency Department of a community hospital, it requires the staff to work together so patient care isn’t impacted. Plans were in place for the staff to use the Express Lab patient bays if needed.
“The nurses, physicians assistants, techs and physicians all pulled together to make this process work. The patients were very understanding and realize that the two-week disruption was well worth it,” Bacher said.
The 17-bed Emergency Department is located on the ground floor of the north wing of Penn Highlands Clearfield. The department is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergency assessment, treatment and stabilization of patients seeking care. More than 21,000 visits were made to the department last year.
In addition to the trauma room renovations, the maintenance team recently freshened up the first floor of the hospital with a new coat of paint and baseboards.
“We’ve received great feedback from patients, visitors and staff about the improvements. Our sincere thanks to employees of the maintenance, emergency and environmental services departments for their hard work and support. They all did a remarkable job,” Gary Macioce, hospital president, stated.
