Woodland Heights Announces Plans to Expand Emergency Department

Woodland Heights Medical Center has launched the construction of an emergency department expansion to more than double the capacity, support increased efficiency and enhance patient care. The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024.

To symbolize the start of construction, hospital leaders, physicians and community members broke ground on the project today. Participants included Mayor Mark Hicks, Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Roy Guse as well as emergency department and hospital leadership.

“We are excited to break ground on this project that will allow us to better serve our patients,” states Woodland Heights Emergency Department Medical Director Dr. Philip Ralidis. “I’m proud that our team has dependably maintained our commitment to treating patients in a timely manner while our volume has now outgrown our current space.”

The project will add seven rooms to the ED for a total of 16, an 8-bed ambulatory care treatment area, an additional nurses’ station and a new waiting room/registration area. Renovation of the existing ED rooms will include new finishes and an overall refresh.

“We saw around 30,000 patients through our nine-bed Emergency Department last year,” states Jose Echavarria, CEO of Woodland Heights Medical Center. “With this project, we are more than doubling our ED capacity, which will support our team’s delivery of timely medical care as we continue to see more and more patients.”

Echavarria continued, “Our team has consistently met our pledge to have patients seen in 30 minutes or less as volume has increased throughout the years. This project has been a long time coming and we are so excited for it to come to fruition to better serve our community.”

The ED expansion is the next phase for an overall $13.5 million construction project which included an addition to the Labor & Delivery department which was completed last month.