SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – Memorial Health will close Mets Road starting Monday, Oct. 5, as construction begins on a $350 million patient tower.<\/p>\n
Road closure details<\/p>\n
Construction will start Monday, Oct. 5, with fencing being put up and Mets Road closing.<\/p>\n
The healthcare system is urging those who typically take Mets Road to instead take Waters Avenue to East 66th Street or use Derenne Avenue to Ranger Road to access the emergency room.<\/p>\n
Memorial Health Chief Operating Officer Joel Leone said the project extends beyond the local area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t just important for Savannah, this is important for everybody in Southeast Georgia,\u201d Leone said.<\/p>\n
Expansion details<\/p>\n
The hospital is beginning an expansion project adding 90 beds and a 1,000-spot parking garage, extending Memorial\u2019s patient capacity to 718 beds.<\/p>\n
Memorial Health is also tearing down Building 600 and parts of its loading dock to make room for the new tower.<\/p>\n
Leone said the addition is meant to aid continued population growth in the Coastal Empire.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last five years, we have seen population in our service area increase about 11 percent, and so that\u2019s a big deal because we need to be able to service that for the region, so that\u2019s really what drove us building this tower and saying you know we need to add 90 beds in order to keep up with the population growth,\u201d Leone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur ER times and being able to get in and out, that\u2019s going to play a huge role in that,\u201d Leone said.<\/p>\n
Beds and staffing<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to open up 90 beds, we\u2019re going to have to staff 90 beds, which means that we\u2019re going to have incremental jobs that we\u2019re going to have to hire,\u201d Leone said.<\/p>\n
Nursing partnership<\/p>\n
Leone said the expansion creates opportunities for local nursing graduates through a partnership with Galen College of Nursing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a partnership with the Galen College of Nursing and so their first cohort of nurses are graduating out in 2027, and so there\u2019s going to be a huge influx of new nurses over the course of 27 to 28 before we open the project that we plan to use to be able to staff these beds,\u201d Leone said.<\/p>\n
Leone said the hospital\u2019s main entrance and emergency room operations will remain unaffected for the entire two years of construction on the Savannah campus.<\/p>\n
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