MANSFIELD, Ohio – OhioHealth MedCentral Mansfield Hospital is preparing to increase its services with the opening of a 157,000 square foot building expansion later this month, complete with new medical offices and the county’s newest surgical robot.
After an aggressive 18-month construction plan, the expansion project is prepared to open in increments starting with the 34,000 square foot surgical wing opening in mid-September. The rest of the building’s services – including medical offices for neurosciences, heart and vascular services, orthopedic services, and a community and wellness education center – will follow suit in November.
According to Brad Peffley, Vice President of Clinical Services at OhioHealth MedCentral, the expansion project was part of an affiliation agreement when MedCentral first began talks of partnering with OhioHealth. The two health organizations began an official partnership in March 2014.
“OhioHealth and MedCentral previously recognized this hospital as a regional hub,” said Peffley. “We try to provide as much care locally to try and keep people here in the community. This helps us broaden the depth of specialty coverage we already had, plus add additional specialty coverage we wouldn’t have been able to do on our own.”
Construction of the expansion alone cost a little more than $53 million; the complete project, including a 240-space parking garage and all equipment and furnishings, totals at $80 million. Peffley noted $15 million of the total cost was paid to local contractors and suppliers.
“Through the end of last month, we had well over 200,000 labor hours,” said Peffley. “The economic impact to the local community is significant with this size of a building project.”
Perhaps the most unique feature in the new OhioHealth MedCentral Mansfield expansion is the addition of the Da Vinci Xi surgical robot, the first of its kind in Richland County. Dr. Robert Maxwell, Vice President of Surgical Services, said robotic surgery is minimally invasive and can be used on procedures including hysterectomies, gynecologic oncology dealing with ovarian or uterine cancers, and urologic procedures dealing with prostate surgery.
“We’re talking about the ability of these [robotic] arms to have greater reach and more application than they used to,” said Maxwell.
The new extended surgical space below the medical office expansion houses 10 regular operating rooms and two heart surgery suits, with the new operating rooms measuring over 900 square feet. The existing 26,000 square feet currently housing the surgical suites will be renovated to include locker rooms, conference rooms, a recovery wing, pre- and post-op areas, outpatient surgeries and recovery bays.
“There’s a lot of equipment involved in surgery, so to have this extra room is great,” said Maxwell, who is a surgeon by training. “When the room is really tight you actually have to fight your way around things to avoid touching because it’s sterile equipment.”
The larger surgical suites and updated technology not only makes operation safer for surgeons and patients, but also creates a selling point when recruiting new surgeons.
“The technology in these rooms makes everything about an operation safer; everything is integrated and the more integrated everything is, the safer the procedure for the patient,” said Maxwell. “New technology also attracts more providers, and having the newest robot in town makes recruiting better. We have the potential of keeping more things at home and providing more services to the patient.”
In addition to the building expansion, the fourth floor of OhioHealth MedCentral Mansfield Hospital is also undergoing a makeover to include a new emergency department observation care unit. Kelly Dials, Vice President of Patient Care and Chief Nursing Officer, said the goal of the observation unit is efficiency in care and expedited discharge.
“With diagnoses that don’t necessarily need to be admitted in inpatient, we bring them here to observation care so you’re not sitting in the emergency room waiting on testing or being monitored there, and you’re also not going to an inpatient unit to sit and be monitored,” Dials explained.
The observation unit will house 22 patient beds, tended to by 16 nurses, a physician and a nurse practitioner dedicated to overseeing the unit.
“You come to a dedicated unit where [nurses and physicians] monitor you and look at your testing and processes and procedures in real time,” said Dials. “They’re dedicated to solely this kind of care, which permits you to be discharged in a more timely fashion.”
Ultimately, the expanded services at OhioHealth MedCentral Mansfield are designed to help both patients and doctors, said Peffley.
“It makes care more efficient, more timely, and it’s better quality care,” said Peffley. “It’ll hopefully reduce readmissions and help with cost of care – there are a lot of big benefits for everybody.”
