ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – The Crystal Spring Tower expansion to the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital began initial planning in 2019, and now six years later, the project is nearing completion.
The state-of-the-art facility will be home to the Carilion Clinic’s Cardiovascular Institute, as well as allow for clinical teams to keep up with the growing health care needs of the region.
(Photo Credit: Carilion Clinic)
The $500 million expansion will include a large chandelier, 507,000 square feet of new space, 5 trauma bays, 3 Cardiovascular operating rooms, 2 Endovascular operating rooms, 2 General Vascular operating rooms, 6 Cardiac Catheterization labs, 3 Electrophysiology labs, 76 Intensive Care and Progressive Care inpatient rooms, 46 Pre-and Post-care rooms, 95 Dedicated ED beds, 40-bed ED observation unit, 500 Additional parking spaces in a new, garage and a covered pedestrian bridge connecting the garage to the tower, and 150 Additional parking spaces underneath the tower.
Wrenn Brendel, DNP, Senior Director of Emergency Services said the ER expansion has several upgrades. With an all-new pediatric waiting room and pediatric Trauma Bay, the hospital is the region’s only level-one pediatric trauma center. Crystal Spring Tower increases the number of total trauma bays from 1 to 5 and will meet the growing needs of the community. Additionally, they have significantly increased the number of beds and nurses stations.
(Photo Credit: Dustin Hennessey, WFXR News)
“Our post-COVID patient volumes are increasing, so as we’re pulling ourselves out of the pandemic, we thought it was the perfect time to start expanding and to meet the needs of the community.” – Wrenn Brendel
“From a trauma perspective, we’re super excited. Expanding the care to our trauma surgeons and care teams is just something that we’ve been wanting for many years,” said Dan Freeman, Trauma Services Senior Director. “Currently we have 2 trauma bays, which we’ve utilized for decades. But the one question you ask the team members, if they could do it differently, what would they say? More space.”
(Photo Credit: Dustin Hennessey, WFXR News)
The new Cardiac Catheterization Lab will allow for patients to be quickly transferred from an ambulance, helicopter, or the ER, directly to a “primary heart attack lab” for treatment within 30 minutes in the event of a heart attack, said Dr. Jason Foerst, Interventional Cardiologist, Carilion Cardiovascular Institute.
(Photo Credit: Left: Dustin Hennessey/ Center: Carilion Clinic / Right: Dustin Hennessey)
“We found out they were going to be put in this very large building with all brand new Cath-labs and operating rooms and emergency rooms right below, so everything is much more integrated. It’s been very exciting for all of us. I think it’s helped with recruiting, not only some of our junior training staff but also some of our senior attending staff. Really, I think an exciting addition to the community.” – Dr. Jason Foerst
(Photo Credit: Dustin Hennessey, WFXR News)
Sarah Henshaw, Senior Director of Nursing, at Carilion Cardiovascular Institute, told WFXR News that the larger rooms give patients more access to care. The patients will have more technology, including iPads that will give them direct access to MyCarts and the ability to order their own food.
There will be three Intensive Care Units and three Progress Care Units with the ability to ‘Flex’ to accommodate changing needs in the future. Lessons learned from the pandemic have also led to changes like phasing out curtains, which harbor bacteria and germs. There are also showers in the rooms for patients and family use, as well as door knobs made from copper, which kills harmful bacteria.
“A metric of success? Our big focus right now is decreasing the length of stay. And that’s because of the technologies and procedures that we have, patients are not staying as long, and that’s good,” said Sarah. “Because we are treating patients appropriately, giving them the care they need quicker because of the features and research that we have provided them.”
(Photo Credit: Dustin Hennessey, WFXR News)
The new Endovascular Operating Room will allow surgeons to perform minimally invasive complex heart procedures that will limit the amount of time patients will be in the hospital and away from family and work. Before, a complex heart procedure, like a heart attack, would require open heart surgery and lengthy hospital stays, as well as increase the risk to the patients.
Dr. Joshua Adams, Chief of Endovascular & Aortic Surgery, at Carilion Cardiovascular Institute, explained how the new rooms and technologies benefit patients and medical personnel.
“Advancement and innovation is really at the core of what I do, and what we do at the Aortic Center. This level of advancement from the imaging standpoint. But also, there are probably things, until we start using the system, that we haven’t even thought of,” said Dr. Joshua Adams. “So, it’s really going to serve as a springboard for us to partner with the industry and to innovate, not only in ways that help streamline the OR process but also help treat diseases and really solve problems that we don’t have solutions for now.”
The Crystal Spring Tower has a soft opening scheduled for the expanded ER Department in the Spring and a full opening in the summer of 2025.