Lakeland Community Hospital Watervliet unveils plans for improvements

Ground will be broken in late September on an $11.8 million expansion and renovation project for Lakeland Community Hospital, Watervliet.

A total of 10,000 square feet will be added to the hospital and will include additions to the Emergency Department, Surgery, and all Inpatient Units.

The largest portion of the facility’s expansion will be the hospital’s Emergency Department, which is to grow by 6,500 square feet at a cost of $4 million.

The Emergency Department expansion, will include 10 private exam rooms. Currently, the emergency department can accommodate up to eight patients in non-private rooms.

Visits to the Emergency Department are continuing to rise. The facility had almost 12,000 emergency visits in 2009 and approximately 14,000 in 2010, hospital officials report.

The project will be the first major renovation of the hospital since 1978. Many of the public areas on the first floor will be remodeled, including the lobby, admitting department, elevators, and the Park Bench Gift Shoppe.

BSA LifeStructures of Indianapolis is the project architect. They are working with Maregatti Interiors, of Indianapolis and Chicago. Maregatti collaborated with Lakeland and BSA LifeStructures on the inpatient addition at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph and the Marie Yeager Cancer Center.

A $1.5 million fundraising campaign to support the construction of the new Emergency Department will begin soon, according to David Burghart, President, Lakeland Health Foundations.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Laura Bailey, Lakeland HealthCare