Arroyo Grande Community Hospital celebrated the completion of its new Emergency Department with a ribbon-cutting on Thursday.
According to Dignity Health, the hospital's original emergency room opened in 1990 and was built to serve 15,000 patients annually. However, because of the growing population, it ended up serving about 27,000 patients per year.
The new, expanded emergency department is nearly twice the size of the original ER. It includes 20 private treatment rooms, a specialized exam room for patients experiencing behavioral health-related issues, a remodeled lobby, triage rooms, and a centralized nurses' station. Specialized rooms are designated for infectious disease isolation, trauma, bariatric patients, and orthopedic emergencies, as well as fast-track beds for patients with less urgent conditions.
Construction of the new emergency department started in 2017. The project cost $7.6 million with funding from the hospital foundation's Legacy Campaign and hospital operation funds.
