ROCKPORT – Pen Bay Medical Center is nearing completion of interior work on a three-year project that will more than double the size of its emergency department.
On Wednesday, August 7, the hospital will open the new addition and redirect ambulance traffic to the regular entrance. Since the project began, ambulances have been redirected to a temporary entrance.
All that remains is to install an external roof over the pedestrian entrance to the emergency department. This will require patients to use a temporary entrance to register for treatment. This temporary entrance will be clearly marked to avoid confusion.
Funded by local donations and an investment from MaineHealth, the emergency department expansion project nearly doubled the size of the emergency department from 836 to 1,396 square feet and increased the number of exam rooms from 13 to 25. The modernized space also includes a three-unit mental health suite, a new medication room, and clean supply and soiled utility rooms.
“We provide excellent care, but our facilities needed significant upgrades to ensure we could continue to provide the best care possible to our patients during crisis situations,” said Nancy Jackson, nurse and director of emergency services for Pen Bay and Waldo, in a news release. “This project has given us the space and resources to continue to do so for years to come.”
The project was necessary for several reasons, including advances in emergency medicine, which, while requiring more equipment and time, also result in better outcomes for patients, especially those suffering a stroke or heart attack. According to PBMC, the severity of cases requiring emergency care has also increased significantly in recent years, as has the number of cases of mental illness.
Diane Hynes, RN, a charge nurse who has worked in Pen Bay’s emergency department since it opened in 1975, served on the committee that reviewed the design. She brought a wealth of experience, having been involved in two other emergency department expansions during her career, including one at the former Knox County General Hospital in Rockland and one at Pen Bay in the late 1990s.
“In 1997, we used the large open space at the Owls Head Transportation Museum to create the design using tape on the floor and cardboard boxes as furniture,” Hynes said. “That really helped us refine the design.”
Much has changed since then. For example, Pen Bay was designated a stroke centre, which required additional equipment and more time-intensive treatment of patients with stroke symptoms.
The biggest change, however, has been in the reasons why people come to the emergency department. While the number of patients seeking treatment has remained relatively constant over the years—22,240 patients were admitted to the PBMC in 2003, compared to 23,653 in 2018—an increasing number of patients are coming with serious medical and mental health problems.
“In 2003, only 20 percent of our patients were classified as critically ill,” said Dr. Mark Eggena, chief medical officer at Pen Bay and Waldo. “In recent years, it has been 60 percent or more.”
Patients with high severity typically require longer stays in the emergency department, resulting in reduced turnaround time and fewer available examination rooms.
“Sometimes 10 or more patients had to be treated in the hallway, which offers no privacy and makes an already stressful situation even more difficult,” said Dr. Eggena. “Expanding to 27 exam rooms will make this easier.”
Dr. Eggena also noted an increase in the number of patients with mental health disorders related to the ongoing opioid crisis.
“Of the 27 exam rooms we will have after the upgrade, six will be dedicated mental health exam rooms designed to provide the unique and specialized care these patients need,” he said.
The emergency department upgrade is part of the Campaign for Coastal Health, a $21.5 million capital campaign that also funded construction of the new health center on the Pen Bay campus. The health center, which brings most of the hospital’s primary care practices under one roof, opened in December 2020.
“What makes this project so incredibly exciting to me is that this is the community’s emergency department,” said Donna Kessler, an emergency room technician who joined Pen Bay nearly 20 years ago. “I can’t thank the capital campaign donors enough.”
A number of local businesses have supported the campaign with generous donations, including Allen Agency, Camden National Bank, Horch Roofing and Viking Lumber. Another major donor, the O’Hara Corporation, earmarked its donation specifically for the emergency room. Other local donors included CedarWorks and The First National Bank. The first foundations to donate money include the Sunshine Lady Foundation, the Libra Foundation, the Davis Family Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the Fisher Foundation.
In addition, care team members from across the organization donated more than $500,000 to the project’s fundraising campaign.
Pen Bay Medical Center
Pen Bay Medical Center is part of MaineHealth, a nonprofit integrated health system comprised of nine local hospital systems, a comprehensive behavioral health care network, diagnostic services, home care services and more than 1,600 employed and independent physicians working together in an Accountable Care Organization. With more than 19,000 employees, MaineHealth is the largest health care system in northern New England, providing preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. For more information, visit pbmc.org.
