Wake
Forest Baptist Medical Center leaders today broke ground to
signal the official start of construction of a 50-bed inpatient facility at the
Davie Medical Center − Bermuda Run campus.
Construction
of the three-story, 78,220 square foot building will take 14 months. The
inpatient facility is expected to open in spring of 2017. The estimated cost of
this addition to the Bermuda Run campus is $47 million.
The
new building relocates inpatient services from the Mocksville campus to the
Bermuda Run campus, consolidating services in one location. In addition to 50
general medical-surgical beds, the addition will also have a cafeteria, an
inpatient pharmacy and a chapel as well as offices for some Wake Forest Baptist
physicians.
"We
made a promise to the citizens of Davie County in 2008 that any approved
project for a medical center in the county would include an inpatient hospital,
and today, we are putting that promise into action," said John D. McConnell, M.
D.,
CEO, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "This inpatient facility will offer
people in Davie County the care and treatment close to home that they deserve."
One
of the additional services the inpatient facility will provide is an acute care
for the elderly or ACE unit. The ACE Unit will create a care destination for
geriatric patients leveraging 25 years of faculty research and clinical
practice. Wake Forest Baptist’s main campus is home to the J. Paul Sticht
Center, an internationally known aging center. The Davie Medical Center ACE
Unit will alleviate capacity at the main campus and provide direct linkage of leading
edge geriatric care and research to the bedside at the Davie campus.
“According to a study conducted by the Piedmont
Triad Regional Council’s Area Agency on Aging, the 60-year-old and older demographic
will make up the fastest growing segment of the county’s projected population
of 43,400 people by 2030,” said Chad Brown, president, Davie Medical Center. “This
inpatient facility with programs like the ACE
Unit will provide patient-and family-centered care and treatment to serve all
ages but especially the care needs of this growing population.”
Further
positioning Davie Medical Center as a destination care center for our aging
population, the inpatient facility also will launch a joint replacement program
that will offer inpatient hip and knee replacement surgeries. The new inpatient
joint program will bring the expertise of Wake Forest Baptist’s orthopaedic
surgeons and clinicians to Davie County, complementing the existing outpatient
surgery and rehabilitation services offered at Davie Medical Center.
Additional
inpatient medical and surgical admissions provided when the inpatient facility
opens will expand the ability of people living nearby to receive care close to
home when appropriate.
The
construction of the 50-bed inpatient facility is the second of a three phase
economic development project and commitment by Wake Forest Baptist to the residents
of Davie County. The first phase of construction included specialty clinics,
cardiac rehabilitation, physical therapy and a pharmacy which opened in August
2013, as well as the emergency department and all outpatient services which was
completed in October 2013. The third phase of construction consists of the
development of the outparcel property surrounding the Davie Medical Center
campus.