NORWAY – When the modern, expanded emergency room at Stephens Memorial Hospital opened last November, it wasn’t a moment too soon, hospital officials say.

The opening was just in time to handle more patients due to the flu and winter sports seasons.

Since then, emergency room physicians and staff have been seeing an average of 40 to 50 patients per day, and as many as 80 people on busy days.

Patient volume has risen 25 percent in the last three years alone, which made it imperative to update the hospital’s emergency department, according to the hospital’s Chief of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Russell D. Florenz.

The construction has provided the Oxford Hills community with the newest emergency room in the state, said hospital Chief Executive Officer and President Timothy Churchill. The expansion project has allowed the hospital to upgrade and obtain the latest in medical technology, he said.

In the old ER, patients were sharing common waiting and registration areas, while physicians and staff treated patients in cramped facilities.

“The ER is our window to the community, it’s a vital component to any hospital and the need for improvements was essential,” said Dr. William Medd, chairman of the campaign that funded the expansion.

Stephens’ new ER is equipped with separate registration and waiting areas for emergency patients and their families, providing more privacy and comfort. There is a designated entrance for walk-in emergency patients and a separate ambulance entrance.

The ER also features a state-of-the-art trauma room, individual exam rooms, a physician’s office and on-call room and a larger and more convenient nurse’s station.

The hospital also has a new magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, system, with radiologists and certified technicians on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergency needs. The new technology more than doubles the hospital’s capacity to provide imaging services.

The expansion project campaign has raised close to $9 million to support a two-phase project that when complete will include a women’s imaging center, an endoscopy and minor procedures suite, a chapel room and an expanded coffee and gift shop. The next phase of construction is expected to be completed in June.