Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center has finished construction on its $7 million emergency department expansion, NBC affiliate WPTZ Burlington reported Sept. 8.
The expansion will be for mental health and geriatric health services. It will add 11 beds to the department and new decontamination areas. Each room will now also have a window.
"It will be filled up almost immediately," Joanne Conroy, MD, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health, told the news station. "We can have between six and 10 boarders in this emergency room with behavioral health needs at any given time."
Ms. Conroy continued that the hospital was not previously equipped to handle the current mental health patient volume it's been receiving, which she expects to grow.