2/22/2011
Arriving at 3:05 a.m., a baby with ear pain was the first patient to be treated in the new Emergency Department at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.
"It's going great," the charge nurse said early Thursday morning. "There's a lot of excitement. Everyone is figuring out where they need to be. It's a little crazy but it's good crazy."
The opening of the new Emergency Department on Feb. 17 marked the start of a new era of health care for residents of Puyallup and East Pierce County.
The new Emergency Department, with 46 private treatment rooms and four triage rooms, is on the first floor of the 9-story, 357,000-square-foot tower at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital. In addition to the new space, staff members already have streamlined procedures to make an emergency visit as quick and comfortable as possible for patients and their families.
Other departments in the new tower will make the transition over the next few weeks. Good Samaritan will continue to use all of the existing hospital patient rooms, converting as many as possible to single occupancy after a refresh of these rooms.