AVMC staff were invited to sign their names on a metal beam that will be one of the last sections installed, as construction crews work to finish the new extended emergency department building. A crane located outside the new ED building is scheduled to hoist the metal beam to the top of the structure. The event marks a milestone in the construction timeline, as it’s now a step closer to opening the new ED unit, set for completion later this year.
The added ED unit will allow for a more spacious workflow for staff, and additional support areas for patients, according to officials at the hospital.
“After using the same space since 1986, while serving a growing population of close to a million local residents and becoming the 2nd busiest emergency room in the state, this expansion project couldn’t be more appropriate,” said AVMC Chief Executive Officer Edward Mirzabegian.
The new addition will be 7,200 square feet and certified as an OSHPD-1 facility. The building will include 40 new treatment bays, a nurses’ station and support areas. When complete, the additional emergency room space will allow Antelope Valley Medical Center to better meet their patient demand of around 9,000 patients a month.
For more information about Antelope Valley Medical Center, visit www.avmc.org.
[Information via news release from Antelope Valley Medical Center.]
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No Name says
What is really needed are two more hospitals — a full Kaiser hospital facility for Kaiser patients (like Kaiser Sunset or Panorama City) and a large county hospital (like Olive View).
There are easily half a million people in the Antelope Valley and in the eastern part of Kern County at this point.
Iconoclast says
Healthcare in the AV is a mess. Try getting a physician. If you find one, the first question is how you are covered insurance-wise. If they don’t take your insurance, good luck. That’s why the emergency room (aka as emergency dept) at AV Hospital (shouldn’t have changed the name to AV Medical Center) is busy. The emergency room is used as primary care for thousands of people. It is one of the top ten busiest in the U.S. The hospital doesn’t mind, though, 75% of their inpatient-volume comes from the emergency room. The addition to the emergency room will help the patients who have to be seen in the hallway because there no bays, but it doesn’t address the lack of healthcare in the AV.