Mercy Hospital South St. Louis broke ground Sept. 26 on a project to expand and redesign its entire emergency department.
Four things to know:
1. The $75 million project will expand the existing department from 39,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet, according to a Sept. 26 Mercy Health news release.
2. Once completed, the department will have 73 patient beds up from 61. There will be six trauma bays, each twice the size of existing bays. There will also be a 13-bed behavioral health area and a larger wait area. There will also be smaller pods of rooms, similar to an intensive care unit, which will provide nurses direct sight of each patient.
3. The emergency department had more than 67,000 visits in fiscal year 2024, treating about 1,000 more patients per month than it did last year.
4. The department will remain open during the project, which is expected to be completed in spring 2024.