Baptist Health Floyd celebrates new surgical waiting area, patient bays

Nov. 14—NEW ALBANY — Baptist Health Floyd is celebrating the second phase of its $65-million construction project.

The New Albany hospital presented a ribbon-cutting Tuesday for a new surgical waiting area, patient bays and a lobby near the Green Valley Road entrance.

Mike Schroyer, president of Baptist Health Floyd, said he is "so excited and so proud to have this finally done."

"It's totally different from what we have right now," he said. "It looks a whole lot better, brighter, more patient-friendly and will improve our patient experiences."

The area features 23 pre/post-op bays, 10 post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) bays, four pain bays, and three consult rooms.

The surgery patients will no longer need to check in at the front registration desk of the hospital, making it more efficient, Schroyer said. Baptist Health Floyd will offer valet service on the northwest side of the hospital as patients drive up to the surgery area.

"As we went to design this and develop the process, we really took to heart what we have heard from our patients and their patient experience surveys," he said. "We also took to heart our staff — things our staff was telling us on how we could improve things here, not only for our patients but also for them in the work environment."

In the first phase of the project, the hospital added a new operating room, as well as a hybrid room that includes both an operating room and a cardiac cath lab.

Next month, Baptist Health Floyd will begin construction on seven new operating rooms, which should be complete in July of next year. When the project is finished, the hospital will have a total of 10 new operating rooms.

The hospital is also adding 32 more patient beds to keep up with the growth.

Baptist Health Floyd is two years into its five-year strategic plan, Schroyer said.

"All of the construction we're doing is part of that plan, but also recruiting a lot of primary care [and] specialty physicians and surgeons and starting new programs as a part of that," he said. "In our first two years, we've accomplished a lot, and we have more to go."

Schroyer said when the hospital was sold to Baptist Health in 2016, investments to improve the facility were a major part of that commitment.

"There was an agreement that Baptist Health over an eight-year period of time would spend $140 million in construction, equipment, information technology, and I'm proud to announce that when the eight years is fully up next summer, we will have spent with these projects $205 million," he said.

State Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, said the "investment is just the latest evidence of Baptist Health's commitment to this hospital."

"For anybody who was nervous about the change eight years ago, I think we're seeing the benefits of that," he said.

Baptist Health CEO Gerard Colman said that since the New Albany hospital became part of the company's health system, "we've really worked to improve patient access and really improve all of the employee opportunities that we have throughout the entire health system."

"Baptist Health Floyd is really a huge part of what Baptist Health System does," he said.