Bedford Hospital to Undergo Emergency Department Renovation, Expansion

BEDFORD, Va. – Centra’s Bedford Memorial Hospital will begin on renovations and an expansion of its emergency department in June, with the department projected to reopen in March 2018. The renovation is intended to improve the quality of care for patients.

Baskerville & Son, PC in Richmond, Va., will be the architectural firm on the project. The $4 million expansion will increase the size of the Bedford Memorial Hospital by more than 30 percent, with the emergency department expanding by 1,800 square feet. The completed emergency department will be approximately 7,500 square feet in size and will grow from 10 beds to a 14-bed treatment facility.

The Bedford Memorial emergency department sees approximately 16,000 patients a year, and saw an 11 percent increase in patient traffic between 2014 and 2016, according to Patti Jurkus, CEO of Bedford Memorial Hospital. The renovations and expansion will create more space for physicians to practice in addition to more patient beds, and it will also implement cosmetic changes and infrastructural upgrades to the facility. For this, they will be hiring professional contractors to help with the renovation, for instance, they plan to find a company that specializes in roofing Roanoke based or more local to help with the roof repairs. Additionally, the installation of advanced medical equipment will enable the hospital to better serve its patients with a higher level of care.

The hospital is taking multiple measures to prevent the disruption of patient care during the renovations. The hospital will open a temporary emergency department on the second floor of the building starting on May 18. Additionally, the hospital is increasing its staff at both the temporary and the new facility for the duration of the construction process. Three more registered nurses and multiple physicians have been hired to meet patient needs during this transition time.

This upcoming renovation and expansion of the Bedford Memorial emergency department is just one part of a series of renovations made by the hospital in recent years. Before this project, the medical surgical unit and the ICU underwent renovations as well. “We love our hospital, love our community and want to provide best service possible,” said Jurkus in a recent statement.