Milestone reached: Cooley Dickinson Hospital holds ‘topping off’ ceremony for expanded ER

Brennan Spencer, who works with Cooley Dickinson Hospital contractor Dewey Square, was one of more than 100 people who signed their names on a steel beam Tuesday as part of a topping-off ceremony marking a significant milestone in the $26 million expansion of the hospital’s emergency department.

Brennan Spencer, who works with Cooley Dickinson Hospital contractor Dewey Square, was one of more than 100 people who signed their names on a steel beam Tuesday as part of a topping-off ceremony marking a significant milestone in the $26 million expansion of the hospital’s emergency department. STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

More than 100 people signed their names on a steel beam as part of a topping-off ceremony held at Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Tuesday.

More than 100 people signed their names on a steel beam as part of a topping-off ceremony held at Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

A construction worker helps carry a steel beam containing the signatures of more than a hundred people as part of a topping-off ceremony held at the hospital on Tuesday.

A construction worker helps carry a steel beam containing the signatures of more than a hundred people as part of a topping-off ceremony held at the hospital on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Raymond Conway, medical director of urgent and occupational health at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, speaks during a topping-off ceremony for new emergency department, held at the hospital on Tuesday.

Raymond Conway, medical director of urgent and occupational health at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, speaks during a topping-off ceremony for new emergency department, held at the hospital on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Alberto Perez, Cooley Dickinson’s chief of emergency medicine, speaks during a topping-off ceremony for new emergency department, held at the hospital on Tuesday.

Alberto Perez, Cooley Dickinson’s chief of emergency medicine, speaks during a topping-off ceremony for new emergency department, held at the hospital on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

A steel beam containing more than 100 signatures is lifted up during a topping-off ceremony for new emergency department at Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Tuesday.

A steel beam containing more than 100 signatures is lifted up during a topping-off ceremony for new emergency department at Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Tuesday. STAFF PHOTO/ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Staff Writer

Published: 09-11-2024 4:50 PM

NORTHAMPTON — City, state and hospital officials gathered in front of Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Tuesday to, quite literally, mark a major milestone toward the completion of a new emergency department and to celebrate the more than $11 million raised to support its construction.

More than 150 people attended the “topping-off” event, many adding their signature to a steel beam, the final one to be added to the structure that will become the expanded section of the emergency department.

Once completed, the $26 million expansion will increase the size of the department by 40% and will increase the total capacity of patients from 26 to 38. The new department also will increase accommodations for patients with mental health issues and add a new CT scanner within the premises.

“Health care has changed and evolved, and the space is too small,” said Diane Dukette, Cooley Dickinson’s chief development officer, in an interview. “What we will create is what’s called a ‘race track,’ where you put the providers and staff in the middle and patients around the outside, so that there’s always a line of sight to see patients and make sure that they’re safe.”

The hospital, a member of the Mass General Brigham hospital network and one of the largest employers in the county, has said that the current emergency department, built in the 1970s, now treats more than twice the number of patients as it did when it first opened. Alberto Perez, the hospital’s chief of emergency medicine, told those gathered on Tuesday that the renovations were urgently needed in order to provide proper care, noting that over the last two years, emergency room admissions had increased by 8%. The ER treats roughly 40,000 patients a year, hospital officials said during a groundbreaking ceremony last year.

“One of the things that keeps me up at night is knowing that our patients sometimes have to wait a few hours in order to be seen. I think that every emergency provider loses their hair thinking about that,” Perez said. “You want to see patients in a timely fashion, and having a bigger capacity will allow us to see patients with shorter wait times.”

Perez also highlighted the importance of having an additional CT scanner within the new department. Though the hospital has a CT scan machine in its main building, Perez said that can often be too far when transporting an emergency patient.

“It may just be 10 minutes, but that can be like 10 minutes underwater,” Perez said. “We want the patients to remain in the ED where the whole team can respond in a timely fashion should there be necessity.”

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In addition to celebrating the structural progress, the hospital also announced Tuesday that it was receiving a $1 million donation from the Harold Greenspoon Charitable Foundation, after meeting a precondition of raising more $2 million itself within the last year. That brings the total amount of funds donated for the department to more than $11 million, with the entire renovation currently estimated to cost $26 million.

Raymond Conway, Cooley Dickinson’s medical director of urgent and occupational health, told those gathered at the event that when first given the proposal by the foundation, the task of raising more than $2 million seemed rather daunting.

“We hadn’t ever done that before,” Conway said. “We had multiple meetings about, can we do it? And we decided that yes, we can do it.”

Other organizations that have given donations for the new department include Easthampton Savings Bank, Smith College and the Beveridge Family Foundation.

The event was attended by several local officials including Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, Police Chief John Cartledge and Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane, all of whom signed their names onto the steel beam. The ceremony concluded with the raising of the beam and affixing it to the site of the future expansion. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, according to Conway.

“We’re doing it in stages, so there’s less disruptions to patients,” Conway told the Gazette. “It’s worked out great so far.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.