St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP) on May 15 held a dedication and open house to celebrate the new Progressive Care Unit (PCU) at Samaritan Hospital.
The new state-of-the-art unit features larger, fully private rooms designed to provide a more comfortable and healing experience for patients, as well as advanced monitoring and diagnostic equipment to help physicians, nurses, and technicians provide the highest quality, patient-centered care.
Development of the new PCU – generally the busiest unit in the hospital – was informed by the input and feedback of providers and nurses who work in the unit. The new PCU is set to begin accepting patients on May 22.
“I am so happy we now have a PCU unit to meet the needs of our staff, as well as meeting the needs of our patients,” said Norman Dascher Jr., president of Samaritan Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital. “This new unit is a true reflection of the PCU staff, and it could not have turned out better. Thank you and congratulations to everyone who played a role in the opening of the new unit, and for working so hard every day to provide the best care possible for our patients.”
Rooms in the new Samaritan Hospital PCU, which are all fully private with private bathrooms and showers, measure 270 square-feet. This is significantly larger than the previous PCU’s semi-private 207-square-foot rooms. Other patient amenities in the new unit include a visitor waiting area, three kitchens, and a family consultation room.
“Thank you to all of our colleagues, and everyone on our unit, who worked so hard on the development of the new PCU,” said Tracy Sprague, RN, BS, RN-BC, nurse manager of the Samaritan Hospital PCU. “We have been preparing and training for the opening of this new unit, and we look forward to continuing to strive for the best possible outcomes for our patients.”
The new PCU is located in Samaritan Hospital’s new five-story Heinrich Medicus Pavilion, the centerpiece of SPHP’s $99 million Troy Master Facilities Plan (MFP). Over the next several months, the pavilion will open other new units, including private medical/surgical inpatient rooms.
A strategic redevelopment project, the MFP was designed to transform health care in Troy, Rensselaer County, and the surrounding communities. The comprehensive plan includes the construction, renovation, and modernization of facilities in Troy, and the transition of Samaritan to the sole provider of inpatient acute care hospital services in Troy, as well as the transition of St. Mary’s to an outpatient campus.
Many of the plan’s major components have been completed, including: a new 570-car parking garage at the Samaritan campus; the relocation and opening of the Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing at St. Mary’s; the new St. Mary’s Hospital Hildegard Medicus Cancer Center; the new Women’s Imaging Center at St. Mary’s Hospital; and the new Samaritan Hospital Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit.
The Heinrich Medicus Pavilion, for which SPHP broke ground in November 2015, is expected to be completed this summer.
