Renovation Work Continues At Frederick Health Hospital

It involves the  critical area of the hospital.

Frederick, Md (KM) Renovation work continues in the critical care area of Frederick Health Hospital. That includes the wing which houses the emergency department, the intensive care unit and the cardiac unit.

Cheryl Cioffi, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for FHH, says planning on this project began before the COVID-19 pandemic. “And the real mission of this project is to meet the growing needs of the Frederick community,” she said. “And make sure, as our community continues to grow that we have the acute care services available at our hospital.”

Cioffi says the work includes the expansion of the emergency department. “So that pediatrics for the emergency department as well as the in-patient services can be co-located next to the emergency department. So then anyone of any age presenting to our ED can go left to the adult side, and right to the pediatric side,” she says.

There will also be more space for the intensive care unit. “We’re also taking the opportunity to advance our intensive care unit to not only increase the number of beds that we have, but also to ensure that we have an environment where families can stay with the loved ones when they need intensive care services,” says Cioffi.

And it will also include a new cardiac catheterization lab, or CATH lab, on the third floor. . “As patients present with heart attacks, or anything where they need cardiac interventional services, they can go to the third floor, receive their services, and then we can perform the life-saving procedures there,” she says. If a patient has a blockage in their heart, physicians can place stents and open that vessel, returning oxygen to the heart.

This will be the third CATH lab for Frederick Health Hospital.

Cioffi says most of the construction is expected to be completed in the summer of 2022, but there will be some work into  2023 on areas which are not currently under renovation.

Even while this renovation work is going on, Cioffi says patients will still have access to the emergency department. “On the exterior of the building, we have the parking lot blocked off where we are redirecting traffic to either the main entrance or a new temporary entrance from where we have the emergency department,”: she says.

So far, Cioffi says ambulances have been able to bring patients to the FHH emergency department during construction.

The price tag for this project it $45.8-million. Cioffi says a campaign is underway to raise money for this expansion. She says so far $6.6-million has been raised with $14.75-million dollars as the goal.

Anyone is welcome to make a contribution. “They can go to Frederick–Health–DOT–ORG, and down at the bottom of our website, there’s a little area where they can click on the word ‘donate.’ And it will take them our development website where they can contribute,” says Cioffi.

By Kevin McManus