ER overhaul: Planned renovation to provide more privacy, security at Powell hospital

Posted 3/21/19

June Minchow, director of emergency and critical care services at Powell Valley Healthcare, is exuberant as she points out plans for new treatment rooms — part of a $1.7 million renovation of …

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ER overhaul: Planned renovation to provide more privacy, security at Powell hospital

Posted

June Minchow, director of emergency and critical care services at Powell Valley Healthcare, is exuberant as she points out plans for new treatment rooms — part of a $1.7 million renovation of the emergency department.

“This is really exciting,” Minchow said.

When complete, PVHC officials say the project will incorporate a lot more security and privacy for patients, while greatly improving the workflow for the hospital staff.

Though construction won’t begin until late in the summer, it’s sooner than originally planned — and Minchow is delighted.

Outdated design

When the Powell Valley Healthcare Emergency Department was constructed in 1984, privacy and security weren’t quite the concern in medicine they are today. It was another 12 years before Congress passed medical privacy regulations, a law referred to today by its acronym HIPAA.

Without those concerns about privacy, the emergency department treatment rooms were built without doors; the doorways are covered with only curtains.

“You can hear everything,” Minchow said.

When doctors confer with patients or have consultation calls, the sound travels easily down the corridors and even through the walls.

“When we have more than one patient or … families in there, we have to be really cautious with privacy and HIPAA concerns so we’re not discussing one individual’s medical history or current illnesses where another can hear,” said PVHC Quality Improvement and Risk Management Specialist Todd Hebert.

The nurses’ station is just around the corner from the glass-door entrance, and the only security is the watchful eyes of the staff, who have enough to do as it is.

The remodel addresses those issues and more.

“It will make the patients much more comfortable and assured,” Minchow said.

When it’s done, there will be four treatment rooms where the nurses’ station currently sits. These will have glass doors with privacy curtains that can be drawn when needed. One of the existing treatment rooms near the entrance will become the new nurses’ station, which will be right across from the four new treatment rooms. The way it will all be laid out, the staff’s workflow between the nurses’ station and treatment rooms will be a lot smoother.

“It’ll give the patient a full team to work with,” Minchow said.

They will also have glass doors between the four treatment rooms, which will allow staff to create a larger room for those times when a large staff is dealing with an emergency.

“That’s going to be real nice. When we have triage, it’s chaos,” Minchow explained. 

Doctors will have a dictation room, where they can vocally record diagnoses and make consultation calls with other doctors. The room will be private and people outside it will not be able to hear any private information about patients.

Access to the emergency department will be controlled by a set of doors that will require a keycard to pass through.

The decontamination room, which is used to wash off chemicals such as in a HAZMAT situation, will remain in its current location. There is also an existing treatment room on the south side of the department, which will remain as a fifth treatment room near the new nurses’ station.

The ambulance bays will be larger as well and able to accommodate all their ambulance units. Currently, some of them have to be parked outside in the elements. Minchow will also get a brand new office.

Minchow started her career in 1985 as an EMT basic, and she graduated from the Northwest College nursing program in 1994. She’s been with PVHC for 22 years, working in the emergency department and intensive care unit, and was promoted to the director position eight years ago.

She’s an amiable woman who affectionately refers to the emergency department nursing staff she leads as her kids.

Her office is as cluttered as any other busy professional. Sitting above the piles of papers and files, on the wall next to proud pictures of her family, is a sign that reads, “Happiness is a space between too little and too much.”

Juggling act

While the completed renovation will be a significant improvement, the process is going to be a challenge. PVHC officials can’t just shut down the emergency department for the approximate year it will take for the construction and inspections. So they will be conducting the renovation in three phases in which things will have to be moved to a temporary spot and then moved to their final spot, when it’s ready.

“It’s going to be a juggling act,” Minchow said.

At its meeting in February, the Powell Hospital District Board of Trustees approved $147,309 for the design and drawings. Hospital officials hope to get grant funding from the Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board for the construction.

Park County commissioners unanimously voted on Tuesday to send letters supporting the district’s requests for state assistance with both the ER remodel and a separate project that will make a required upgrade to the ventilation in the hospital’s pharmacy.

“Your facility and all the people you employ, it’s a big part of Park County and I’m proud to do something like this, support you guys, and hope you fare well,” said Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson.

“As much as I don’t like hospitals and try not to go to them, I do believe in supporting the needs of our local [residents],” added Commissioner Lloyd Thiel.

Just down the hall from the emergency department, next door to the hospital’s existing in-house pharmacy, construction crews are remodeling some space into a new retail pharmacy. It’s expected to be completed and open to the public by late summer or early fall.

With the pending closure of the Powell’s Shopko and its pharmacy, Fulkerson said the hospital had good timing.

“That wasn’t anything that we had anticipated as far as Shopko closing, but it’s going to be a very positive thing for the community,” said PVHC Pharmacy Director Steve Hultgren.

Meanwhile, according to the architect’s timeline, the process of designing the remodeled emergency department will take a few months, and then they can put the project out to bid. Minchow said construction is expected to start in August. After that, it’ll be an inconvenient year waiting for the new and improved emergency room to be fully complete.

But for Minchow, it’s entirely worth the headache.

“We can make it a so much better experience for our patients,” she said.

(CJ Baker contributed reporting. Editor's note: This version correct the acronym HIPAA.)

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