The $2.2M plan includes closing the hospital’s original entrance, used

since 1926.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – A $2.2 million plan to move the main entrance and remodel the emergency room at Rumford Hospital was unveiled Monday.

The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer, John Welsh, said phase I of the board’s master plan is expected to begin early next year and be completed by the end of 2004.

“It’s a long time coming. We have looked at moving the hospital and at several ways of staying on campus. We’ve finally come up with a design that will work well, be more efficient and up-to-date,” he said.

Planned for the first phase is closure of the pillared main entrance, which is part of the original hospital built in 1926. The new main entrance and lobby will be moved above the emergency entrance in the Franklin Street section of the hospital addition built in the 1960s.

Changes at the parking lot will allow easier accessibility by patients and visitors to the new lobby, which will be handicapped accessible.

The emergency room will be remodeled in such a way as to separate ER traffic from patient and visitor traffic. The adjacent outpatient surgery area will also be expanded and a handicapped accessible bathroom installed.

Also planned is the removal of a two-story, wood-framed home adjacent to the hospital to make way for 27 parking spaces.

Funding for phase I of the project comes from hospital operations, largely as a result of Rumford Hospital becoming a critical access hospital a year ago, said Welsh. The program, which usually serves rural areas with under-served populations, provides higher federal reimbursement

“The hospital has stabilized since it went critical access,” he said.

Welsh isn’t sure when phase II will kick in. It all depends on funding sources.

Phase II calls for combining the three inpatient units into one served by a single nurse’s station. Reconfiguration of the existing inpatient rooms and a planned addition to the rear of the newer section of the hospital will provide 25 private inpatient rooms. Now, some of the beds are in singles, while others are in doubles and triples.

Also planned is construction of a new emergency room and radiology department. Welsh estimates at least five years before the second phase begins.

The 1926 section of the hospital will eventually be turned into office space, primarily for medically-related offices.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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