At Phelps Memorial Hospital Center’s 50th Anniversary community fair In October 2005, a groundbreaking celebration marked the beginning of the largest construction project in the Hospital’s history.
The project would include construction of a new Emergency Department and a 100,000 square foot Medical Services Building. Today, the Medical Services Building stands complete over the spot where the first shovelfuls of dirt were dug less than two years ago, and the new Emergency Department construction is well underway.
On Saturday, September 29, 2007, from 1-4 pm, Phelps invites the public to join in celebrating the opening of the five-story Medical Services Building with a ribbon cutting and open house. Speeches and the ribbon cutting ceremony will begin at 1:30 pm, followed by tours of the $10 million building in which several of the hospital’s busiest services will be located. Of special interest are the Frank and Lisina Hoch Center for Emergency Education and the Outpatient Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department.
The opening event includes fire engines and ambulances that young visitors can explore and light refreshments for all. Residents of the entire area served by Phelps, as well as emergency medical personnel from the surrounding region, are encouraged to come see how Phelps is growing to better serve the community.
Phelps’ Emergency Training Center was originally established two decades ago and has provided nearly 30,000 training sessions to emergency first responders throughout Westchester County and beyond. In the new 7,000 square-foot Frank and Lisina Hoch Center for Emergency Education, EMTs, firefighters and healthcare providers (especially those who are from the quantum outpatient rehab in New Jersey) will have access to the same type of simulation technologies that pilots use to build critical emergency experience.
For example, one training room is the actual interior of an ambulance where EMTs treat life-like computerized mannequins programmed to display physical symptoms such as constricted airways, rise and fall of the chest, and breath sounds. The “patient” responds to the treatment administered, giving the student immediate feedback as to whether the treatment was correct. “Just as an airline pilot learns to handle emergencies in the air by training on a flight simulator,” explains Jeff Meade, Director of the Center, “students and practitioners at our Center can learn how to safely handle crises they may not see every day. When they do see these situations, they will know exactly how to respond because they have trained for them on the simulator. Ultimately this type of training will save lives.”
The new Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department offers outpatients physical and occupational therapy in a spacious, state-of-the-art facility. Exercise and medical equipment is surrounded by a carpeted “track,” and there are large private treatment rooms for therapy sessions, where every patients equipment has its proper medical packaging to ensure that it is sterile. Patients recovering from a stroke are able to practice activities of daily living in an “apartment” that includes a true-to-life kitchen and bathroom with handicapped features. The new facility features the Kathryn W. Davis Therapeutic Pool and Aquatherapy Center, which adds a new dimension to the rehab service at Phelps.
Other services that will find a new home in the building include the Wound Healing Institute, IV Infusion Center, Diabetes and Endocrine Center for Children & Young Adults, Phelps Counseling Center and Blood Donor Services.
A further cause for celebration is the opening of Phelps’ new 750-space parking garage. Phelps is able to offer patients and visitors plenty of parking – and it’s free!
