10/28/2009

Susquehanna Health employee service partners, volunteers, patients and medical staff together with city officials and members of the community broke ground on October 28 at the corner of Walnut and Louisa Streets, commencing construction on the new patient tower at the Williamsport Regional Medical Center.

The patient tower project moves Susquehanna Health into the fourth of five phases in its $250 million Project 2012 initiative that was launched in 2006 as the first major hospital renovation and replacement project in over 20 years. Designed to be the new entrance for the Williamsport Regional Medical Center, the new patient tower faces and overlooks the city. This four-story tower features 84 single-occupancy rooms developed to enhance patient comfort, increase privacy, improve patient care and reduce the risk of infection. Private rooms provide a more appropriate environment for gathering confidential patient history information and more easily enable the isolation of patients to prevent the transmission of infection.

The patient tower also features a two-story entrance for expanded Emergency and Imaging Departments. The second floor houses new Intensive Care and Critical Care Units and a high-tech Education & Innovation Center. Surgical areas with new operating rooms comprise the third floor of the tower and Orthopedics and Spine are located on the fourth floor.
"We sincerely value and appreciate each of the partnerships we have developed through our Project 2012 initiative. Our collective efforts serve as the foundation of this undertaking and are what support Susquehanna Health in realizing our dream for high-quality, patient-focused and family-centered care for this region," says SH President & CEO Steven P. Johnson.