News Updates

UPDATE:  On Sept. 12, 2011 construction workers began raising steel beams into place as part of the project to build a new third floor at Elk Regional! Pictures are available on our Facebook page!

UPDATE: Demolition work began on Aug. 8, 2011 when workers took down a building that was formerly part of the living quarters for the Catholic nuns who ran the hospital until 1978. In later years, the building was converted to a conference room that also housed the hospital's disaster managment headquarters. Pictures are available on our Facebook page!

UPDATE: Construction is under way as workers convert part of the hospital's surgical services suite into a new maternity unit. Pictures will be available soon!

UPDATE: Local and regional contractors will play a major role in constructing our new floor. Click here to read more about how Elk Regional is infusing more than $5.99 million into the local economy!

UPDATE: We are pleased to report that construction began on July 5, 2011.

UPDATE: We are pleased to report that pledges to The Elk Regional Capital Campaign total more than $3.67 million. The generosity of our community has allowed us to exceed our $2.5 million goal! Click here to read more!

About the Building Project
This $10.3 million project is crucial to the long-term stability of the Health Center and the Health System as a whole. It will dramatically improve our hospital and will allow us to:

• construct 10 Generations Unit rooms;
• construct 42 private medical/surgical rooms that can accommodate as many as 48 beds if needed – each with its own bathroom and shower;
• construct two centrally-located nurse’s stations to oversee the medical/surgical unit; and
• transform part of our existing facility into a new maternity and OB/GYN unit with four OB/GYN patient rooms and four labor, delivery and recovery rooms.

Existing medical/surgical, OB/GYN and Generations Unit rooms are located in our 1941 and 1958 buildings, making them 70 and 53 years old, respectively.

Some are very small, semi-private rooms; others are ward-style rooms. Adjoining bathrooms are shared by as many as four patients and there are shared shower facilities in the hallways. Rooms are small and cramped, especially when family and friends come to visit. Lighting and ventilation are poor in all of the old rooms. Patients and their families consistently rate Elk Regional below average on room accommodations. Patient comfort isn’t the only thing that suffers. Nurse stations are cramped and are not compatible with mmodern equipment. Long hallways make it difficult to transport patients in a timely fashion, and for nurses to have immediate access to patients.

Today, as we face uncertain times and stiffening competition from other area hospitals, it is absolutely crucial that we modernize those rooms.

New medical/surgical beds, new OB/GYN rooms and a new Generations Unit were badly needed in 1982 when Elk Regional last undertook a capital campaign to update the hospital’s facility. By the time the 2001 expansion project rolled around, updating those had become even more important, but administrators were financially conservative and decided to wait. Fortunately, Elk Regional planned for the future. Our 2001 expansion was designed with the future in mind – its structure and mechanical systems are designed for an additional floor.

This project is the single most important thing we can do to ensure that this hospital has a bright future. Health care is undergoing massive changes right now, both locally and at the national level. As that change happens, delivery models continue to change dramatically. However, Elk Regional is and will remain the principal provider of health care for people in a very large region for years to come. The importance of this building and expansion project simply cannot be overstated.

 

Stephen Quinn
Board of Directors
Elk Regional Health System

How To Make A Gift
Every dollar we raise goes straight into bricks and mortar. We hired no outside firm to conduct our capital campaign, choosing instead to conduct the campaign in-house to keep our costs as low as possible.

Every dollar makes a difference. Every dollar we raise lowers the amount the hospital is forced to finance, keeping our debt service payments low and enabling the Health System to invest money in other improvements.

This is an historic opportunity to celebrate Elk Regional's time-honored commitment to quality, compassion and the community. What better way to do this than to help lay the cornerstone for the next era of healthcare in the region?

To make a gift in support of The Elk Regional Capital Campaign:

• Click below to download a pledge card (PDF). Once you have downloaded the pledge card, please fill it out and return it to Sam MacDonald at the address below.
  
• Make a gift online using PayPal (requires a PayPal account OR a valid debit/credit card). Please click here to make an online donation.