WEST READING, Pa. – Reading Hospital, which treats more than 100,000 patients each year, is expanding its emergency center to accommodate the growing demand for emergency care.
Reading Hospital President and CEO Charles Barbera was among those attending a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction on a 20,000-square-foot addition to the hospital’s emergency center.
“Today marks an exciting new chapter for Reading Hospital and emergency care in our community,” Barbera said.
The expansion will provide additional space for patients and their families, along with new pharmacy and financial counseling areas. The project also includes a rapid treatment area with dedicated beds to help patients receive care more quickly.
“It will make care much more efficient, and it will make in and out much easier,” Barbera said. “So some of our extended waits we will eliminate with this project.”
The expanded facility will be named the John and MaryAnne Post Center for Emergency Care in recognition of the Post family’s generosity and contributions to the hospital.
Barbera said the family’s support will have a lasting impact on the hospital and the people it serves.
John Post Jr. said Reading Hospital has long held a special place in his family’s heart, crediting his mother’s involvement with the hospital’s volunteer program, which dates back to the 1990s.
“My mother deserves a lot of the credit for that,” Post said. “She’s been involved with the volunteer program here since the ’90s in one way, shape or form, and she believes in the work that Reading Hospital’s done.”
Post said he hopes the expansion will help families get the care and support they need during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
“We hope to make what is usually considered to be a pretty awful experience, something that’s just a little bit better to help you through troubling times in your life,” Post said.
Barbera expects the emergency center expansion to be completed by 2028.