By Christina Johnson
HOLMDEL – In a major change, Bayshore Medical Center will begin a project that will reposition the campus and triple the size of its emergency department.
The five-year plan will move the main entrance to the rear and create an expanded emergency department that will be located closer to the front entrance at North Beers Street.
“The current emergency department is severely undersized for the volume we have been seeing and is past the limit of efficiency and comfort for patients,” said chief hospital executive Frank Citara. He said the reason Bayshore is experiencing so many more visitors in recent years is due to a surge in public “confidence” they will receive the best care.
Built in 1972, Holmdel hospital now calls itself Bayshore Medical Center and includes branding from its new network, Hackensack Meridian Health. It is located at 727 North Beers Street. Ambulances have special access directly off Garden State Parkway North.
In the five-year phased plan, the main entrance will be moved to the building’s rear, where the emergency department entrance exists now. Starting in September, the rear parking lot will be reconfigured to accommodate visitors to the adjacent radiology and outpatient services departments. To create more spaces for public parking, the rarely used helipad will be removed, and the hospital will utilize nearby landing sites to transport patients.
In the front, facing the Garden State Parkway, the main entrance will become the new emergency department. At 32,177 square feet, the new facility will be triple the size of the current one, with the ability to expand vertically in years to come.
The department will replace 75 percent of the current parking lot. The spaces that remain will be reserved for physicians, emergency patients and their families and EMS.
“It’s going to be easier access right off North Beers for patients and for EMS and much better parking ability and maneuvering,” said Citara. He expects work to begin on the reconfiguration in January 2020.
Inside, a main corridor will be created connecting the east and west ends of the hospital, replacing the current zigzag route. The new emergency waiting room and pediatrics department will be designed with a friendly, comforting look.
“We’re changing the model of how patients get registered and greeted,” said Citara, describing a nursing pivot model, where a nurse is stationed at the desk and can immediately usher a patient into the appropriate level of care.
“Time to care is going to be expedited. Nobody should be waiting in the ED at all,” he said.
There are plans to accommodate projected volume with new hires of nursing and staff in the emergency department. “Over time there’s plans for increased full time employees and an expanding workforce,” he said.
