RUMFORD – A smooth move was made to Rumford Hospital’s new inpatient area recently.

With prior planning and a beefed up staff, 20 patients were transferred from the hospital’s medical/surgical unit and intensive care unit to the new consolidated patient unit in the John H. Welsh Building.

Med/surg and ICU Nurse Manager Diane York oversaw the operation, keeping in touch with a pool of employees in another part of the building via walkie-talkie. When more hands were needed, York called the pool supervisor who dispatched the staff.

Shirley Drapeau was the first to move. Two nurses propelled her through the halls in the recliner where she had been sitting, down the hall of the old unit, past York who checked all patients as they passed, finally delivering Drapeau to the most distant room in the new building.

Following them were more staff with her bed, bedside table and other furnishings. Next, Drapeau’s roommate followed. Only two of the 20 med/surg rooms are semi-private. The rest are single

One by one patients were transported to the new unit, where a nurse helped them settle in and checked to make sure the trip hadn’t altered their condition.

Just before, environmental services staff could be seen doing last-minute cleaning, while workmen were reinstalling ceiling tiles after making adjustments overhead.

Even as the patients were transported, six computer experts were making sure that all the computers in the nursing station were up and running.