Excela Health has begun fundraising in the community to offset the cost of rehabilitating Westmoreland Hospital’s intensive care unit, its first upgrade since 1980.
The $14 million project will expand the 32-bed unit throughout the hospital’s sixth floor, moving the short-stay surgical unit to the first floor from the sixth, spokeswoman Robin Jennings said.
Private baths for each room, designated family space and smart-room communications that include patient education and entertainment capabilities are planned.
“This really was a design that was intended to bring out the best components of what this work environment should be,” Jennings said.
The work is expected to last up to 18 months. Preliminary work on the project is underway as Excela Health moves ahead with community fundraising for the project.
The Westmoreland Hospital Foundation has committed $1 million to the project, and every Excela trustee has pledged financial support along with the medical staff and some employees. The hospital auxiliary pledged $100,000.
Dr. Peter Safar, the late University of Pittsburgh anesthesiologist, is credited with opening the first integrated, fully staffed critical care unit in the country at Baltimore City Hospital in 1958. Each of Excela’s three hospitals are more than 100 years old.
