ROANOKE, Va – Highlights:
- New Emergency Department expansion opens Spring 2025
- Project represents $500 million investment
- New parking garage will open adjacent to the new tower
- Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital ED now has 125 beds,5 Trauma Bays, including the first dedicated to pediatric patients
- Expansion includes dedicated pediatric emergency waiting area, triage space and patient rooms
- New, additional helipad on top of tower
- Expansion will make Carilion’s Emergency Department one of the largest in the Commonwealth.
Opening this spring, a newly expanded emergency department is nearly complete at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. The expansion makes it one of the largest emergency departments in the Commonwealth.
10 News anchor Rachel Lucas got a tour of the facility ahead of it’s opening to learn what it means for the community.
Carilion began planning the expansion in 2019, and despite the pandemic, remained on schedule. The expansion represents a $500 million investment.
Roanoke Memorial is the region’s only Level 1 trauma center, making it crucial to expand the facility to accommodate patient needs in the area. Now, years in the making, the new emergency department at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital’s Crystal Spring Tower is nearly ready to open.
Dan Freeman, Carilion senior director of trauma programs, said there is a lot of excitement about the project being nearly complete.
“We’ve been working on this since 2019,” Freeman said. “So it’s been a long time coming, and we’re excited to be at the finish line.”
Because the hospital serves as the region’s only Level 1 trauma center, that means it handles the most complex and severe trauma cases. Freeman noted the extensive area served by the hospital.
“We have patients being transferred to us and traveling via EMS from West Virginia, Southwestern Virginia, Tennessee, and even some portions of North Carolina,” Freeman said. “So our radius of patients captured area is very, very large.”
The emergency department at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital has more than 88,000 patients each year.
“So, we’re steadily seeing that increase in volume of patients, and also we’re seeing an increase in complexity. And what I mean by that is over 50% of our volume from a trauma standpoint is transfers in from other facilities. And so, as the region’s only level one trauma center, we’re seeing the sickest of the sick,” Freeman said.
Centra in Lynchburg and Lewis Gale are Level Two trauma centers. Carilion New River Valley Medical Center and Lewis Gale in Montgomery County are Level Three trauma centers.
On average, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital receives patients and transfers from more than 60 hospitals, and that isn’t just for trauma.
Wrenn Brendel, Carilion vice president of emergency medicine, shared his enthusiasm for the expansion.
“On a scale from 1 to 10, a ten,” Brendel said.
Brendel explained that the much-needed expansion was designed in part by the doctors and nurses who will work there every day.
“So we’re really hoping to increase efficiencies from the nursing and clinical staff standpoint,” Brendel said.
To enhance patient care, a new helipad was installed to expedite treatment.
“So we have two helipads now, not just one,” Freeman explained. “We have one on this tower that will serve as our, quote unquote, trauma elevator. So any patients coming into the emergency department for trauma and/or cardiac or stroke patients that need to come through the ED will come through that new helipad.”
The expansion allows for more patients to receive care, now featuring 125 beds and an additional observation unit.
“So we have expanded our care areas significantly,” Brendel said. “Our hope is that we put people in more fixed rooms and provide the care in actual rooms, reduce some crowding, reduce delays, and increase the quality of care.”
The new facility includes five trauma bays, including the region’s first reserved for children.
“This is an area we call our fast track, or results waiting area,” a Brendel explained during her tour. “It is quicker care, maybe some urgent care-type visits that would not require a traditional room with a cardiac monitor or oxygen. These patients, previous to the construction, would have gotten care in the triage space, which did not offer the privacy or luxury of the child-friendly environment that this room does.”
A significant aspect of the design focuses on making children more comfortable. The facility includes a dedicated pediatric emergency waiting area, triage space, and patient rooms.
“And, you know, as a parent, I think it just would ease the nerves of anyone who was coming to the emergency department on a day that they certainly didn’t plan to,” Brendel said.