Calendar Corner A Message from the Chairman ... - Northeast Health

Albany Memorial Hospital to Expand Emergency Room
Enhanced, Patient-Centered Emergency Medicine
The Emergency Depart-
ment at Albany Memorial
Hospital was designed to
handle 13,000 annual
emergency visits. However,
as the center for emergency
medicine located at the
crossroads of two major
interstate highways (I-787
and I-90), the hospital has
seen double-digit growth in emergency visits yearly.
To accommodate the need, the hospital has
begun a $14 million emergency room expansion
project, noted with a formal groundbreaking cer-
emony held on March 1 in the hospital’s lobby.
The new emergency room has a number
of goals, including:
• Rightsizing the department to plan
for future volume
• Adding a major resuscitation room
• Improving access for ambulances
• Adding more triage rooms
• Designing several rooms that can be configured
as isolation, decontamination and collection of
evidence (connected with physical assault) areas
• Re-aligning/expanding the main lobby
• Instituting a bedside registration process to
streamline entry of patient information
and admission
• Adding a private family conference area, as well
as privacy in all treatment rooms
The hospital will also add an “ER Express”
suite. This service allows treatment of acute emer-
gencies by one of the emergency department teams,
and minor urgent needs by another team. This
approach decreases waiting time for patients.
Sarah Vogel, MD, medical director of the Albany
Memorial Emergency Department, notes with pride
that 100 percent of the physicians at the hospital
are board-certified in emergency medicine.
Ride the Elephant to the Adirondacks
How can a white elephant translate into a trip
to the Adirondacks for residents of the Eddy Ford
Nursing Home?
The answer is when a successful “white el-
ephant” sale raises approximately $1,500 to help
support a trip to Camp Dippikill in Warrensburg,
NY. Last year’s trip took place on August 23-24; nine
residents stayed overnight, while four came
for the day.
Held on the campus of the Eddy-Ford Nursing
Home, the white elephant sale not only helped to
raise money for the residents’ trip, it also was a
lot of fun for those who came.
“This sale helps residents stay connected to
the community,” notes James (Jaimy) Farnan, vice
president and administrator of Eddy Ford Nursing
Home. “Past employees participate every year.
10 • Spring 2007
“Nobody wakes up in
the morning saying, ‘Well,
today I’d like to visit the
emergency room at Albany
Memorial Hospital,’” Dr.
Vogel said at the ground-
breaking ceremony. “But
when they find themselves
in the position to need to
go—always a stressful position — we will
make it much less stressful, and often
downright pleasant.”
How can you help to make this project
come to fruition?
We are looking to partner with you. We recog-
nize and appreciate every donor and every gift,
but the following are examples of dedication
opportunities for the Emergency Department.
Diagnostic and treatment rooms 26 rooms (22 available, 4 named) $7,500
Emergency Department registration/discharge $7,500
Atrium registration stations $7,500
Decontamination room $7,500
Triage nursing room (2 available, 1 named) $15,000
Trauma Room $15,000
Major trauma/critical care room $15,000
Bereavement room $15,000
EMS documentation/break room $15,000
Acute nursing control area(s) $150,000
ER Express Nursing Station $150,000
Triage Nursing Center $150,000
ER Direct Entry clinical documentation (named) $125,000
Main reception/volunteer area $100,000
Emergency Department entrance lobby $100,000
Albany Memorial Hospital history/heritage wall (2 available) $75,000
or both for $100,000
New emergency entrance portal $75,000
Mural $75,000
Wall of dedication/donor recognition $75,000
Hospitality shop $75,000
Emergency ambulance entrance and canopy $75,000
Emergency Department walk-in canopy (named) $50,000
Atrium skylight $50,000
Emergency Department director’s room $25,000
Gift recognition wall $25,000
Pediatric play area $25,000
Emergency Department reception/security (named) $25,000
Emergency Department nursing director’s room $17,500
PACs radiology viewing station (3) $10,000
They seem to have a strong connection with
the residents.”
Family members of residents, staff members
and members of the community donated goods
to the sale. Hannaford, Wal-Mart, Stewart’ s and
Applebees sponsored the event. For the first
time this year, the Cohoes Auxiliary held a
successful bake sale.
The trip itself provides an exciting adventure
for a small group of residents who spend a night in
the Adirondacks. Laurie Albigese, social worker at
Eddy Cohoes Rehabilitation Center and Eddy Ford
Nursing Home, first experienced this kind of trip
when she worked at a group home in New Mexico.
“I thought, ‘Why not try something similar
here?’,” she explains. She approached the State
University of New York at Albany, owners of Camp
Dippikill. As a SUNY alumna, Albigese was
eligible to rent the camp for the two days necessary
to make the trip a reality.
“Residents who go on the trip can play cards,
horseshoes, relax, stay up and talk —there is no
schedule to follow,” she says. “They roast marsh-
mallows, read books outside. Its very relaxing.”
Some residents come for the day and stay
from 11 am to 8 pm, while some stay overnight,
for a total of 9-15 resident participants.
“Staff is very excited about this trip,” Albigese
says. “We have a system for taking the residents,
and we’re perfecting it all the time. When the
residents come back, they talk about it for weeks.
It’s just wonderful. We couldn’t do it without the
support of the community through the white
elephant sale.”