Banner University Medical Center, one of the Valley’s largest hospitals, is preparing to open its new emergency department.
“We will be the largest level one trauma center in the valley,” Dr. Moneesh Bhow, Emergency Department Medical Director, told ABC15.
The new facility will more than double the number of beds currently available in the E.R., from 29 to 63. Hospital staff say it will allow doctors to accommodate up to 92,000 emergency patients a year and up to 80 at any given time.
“This will allow us to have private rooms for all of our patients. We have multiple specialty rooms that will allow us to take care of our most critical patients,” Bhow said.
The old E.R. required patients and paramedics to enter off McDowell Road and drive up a ramp to the second story. The new facility was designed with accessibility in mind, doctors say, and will provide access directly off 10th Street on the west side of the hospital campus.
Paramedics were invited to walkthrough the facility on Thursday.
“They put a lot of thought into making it easier to use for their own staff as well as us,” said Phoenix Firefighter-Paramedic Joseph Ranney.
The new emergency department opens June 27.
