Ministry Health Care releases details of next phase of renovations at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton
Plans include construction of new bed tower
10 / 10 / 2012
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Maria Nelson, Media Relations
Affinity Health System
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(920) 554-0686 (pager)
October 10, 2012 (Appleton, Wis.) – Ministry Health Care announces details regarding the next phase of construction in its multi-year plan to completely renovate and update the St. Elizabeth Hospital campus. The highlight of this next phase includes the construction of a five-story inpatient bed tower that will provide all-private rooms and enhance the quality of care. The project also includes: renovations and upgrades to the cancer center; renovations to the adolescent behavioral health inpatient unit; demolition of the west part of the hospital that was built in 1924; new entrances to the women and families center and surgical procedure area; upgrades to the central utility plant; and investment in leading edge diagnostic and operative equipment.
The project will begin this month and includes a total investment of $108 million. St. Elizabeth Hospital was founded in 1899 and has been serving the community for more than 110 years.
“Continuing to redevelop the St. Elizabeth Hospital campus demonstrates our commitment to the Fox Cities,” said Travis Andersen, president of St. Elizabeth Hospital. “This project will completely modernize the entire campus and is being built around providing personalized care for our patients. These enhancements will improve the quality and efficiency of the outstanding care that is already delivered and will help staff achieve the highest levels of patient quality and satisfaction.”
“More than 10 years ago we started the renovations to the St. Elizabeth Hospital campus. We began with the outpatient settings first, and are now completing the puzzle with a 90 bed inpatient bed tower with state-of-the-art equipment,” said Daniel E. Neufelder, president of Affinity Health System and senior vice president for hospital operations for Ministry Health Care. “St. Elizabeth Hospital will continue to be an important campus for the delivery of high quality, personalized care within the Fox Cities for Ministry Health Care.”
“This project has the full support of the Affinity and Ministry boards and leadership,” stated Nick Desien, president and CEO for Ministry Health Care. “St. Elizabeth Hospital is a key component of Ministry Health Care’s network that serves not only the greater Appleton community, but offers care for patients throughout northeastern Wisconsin.”
The construction design and amenities were driven by feedback solicited from more than 700 patients and 300 staff. New features include all-private rooms, more accessible parking, healing gardens, redesigned work flows and upgraded imaging services.
Consistent with Ministry’s wellness initiatives, the current cafeteria will be replaced and upgraded to a marketplace concept, offering a fresh approach to food service emphasizing healthier food options and a wide variety of choices.
“We designed our inpatient bed tower unit to be structured in a 10-bed neighborhood approach to achieve flexibility and efficiency by adequately responding to the varying types of patients we treat and how many patients are in our hospital at any given time,” said Gary Kusnierz, vice president of performance excellence for Ministry Health Care. “Our philosophy is to work with employees to improve work flows prior to design and construction. This allows for maximum efficiency when providing care in the new spaces.”
This phase is expected to be completed by January 2015.
Rendering of St. Elizabeth Hospital campus upon completion of phase IV.
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About St. Elizabeth Hospital
St. Elizabeth Hospital was founded in 1899 and has served the greater Appleton community for more than 110 years. St. Elizabeth became part of Affinity Health System in 1996. In February 2012, Ministry Health Care assumed sole sponsorship of Affinity. St. Elizabeth Hospital’s south edition and its Heart, Lung & Vascular Center are LEED certified.
About Ministry Health Care
Ministry Health Care, which includes the recently acquired Affinity Health System, is an integrated health care delivery system serving more than 1.1 million people across Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. Ministry operations generate more than $2.2 billion in annual operating revenue with 15 hospitals, 46 clinics and nearly 12,000 employees. More than 650 physicians and advanced practice clinicians provide personalized care at Ministry primary and specialty care clinic locations. Home health care, hospice and long-term care services are also provided across the region.
Ministry was founded by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother more than 120 years ago to further the healing ministry of Jesus by continually improving the health and well-being of all people, especially the poor. Ministry is ranked among the top 20 percent of health care systems in the country by Truven Health Analytics, formerly Thomson Reuters.
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For the Editor:
Affinity Health System, a faith-based regional health care network, is the Fox Valley’s second-largest employer, according to the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry. For the fourth consecutive year, Affinity has been named one of the nation’s top 64 health systems based on clinical performance according to Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of health care. For ten consecutive years, Affinity Health System has been named to the SDI (formerly Verispan) Integrated Health Network Top 100, an annual assessment of the 100 most highly integrated health care networks in the nation. Both St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton and Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh rank among the top 1 percent of hospitals nationwide in terms of quality and efficiency, as determined by the 2007 Premier | CareScience Select practice National Quality Award. Members of Affinity include Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Health Foundation, Oshkosh; St. Elizabeth Hospital and the St. Elizabeth Hospital Foundation, Appleton; Affinity Medical Group, a regional network of 25 family practice and specialty clinics – 22 of which are recognized as NCQA Level III medical homes, the highest level of recognition – in 14 communities; Calumet Medical Center, Chilton; and Affinity Occupational Health.