Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center opens $7M expanded emergency room
Sep. 16—Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon opened its new $7 million expanded emergency department Thursday.
An official ribbon cutting ceremony took place last week.
The project, which was constructed over 16 months, adds nine new rooms with a focus on behavioral health and geriatric needs of the Upper Valley, according to a news release.
The emergency department now has 11 rooms for behavioral health care. Other additions include a treatment room with negative pressure capability for high threat infection, group therapy/activity room, mass decontamination room and single decontamination room, the release says.
Rooms designed for patients having a mental health crisis have enhanced safety features that improve visibility and reduce risk of self-harm, according to Christine T. Finn, a psychiatrist and director of emergency psychiatry services at DHMC. Six of the new rooms have windows.
Some patients experiencing mental health crises have to wait for days or weeks for treatment options.
"Our focus has always been on rapid behavioral health assessment, stabilization and transfer to treatment," Finn said in a statement. "Now we can jumpstart treatment when a patient has to wait in the ED."
The hospital lost space designed for older emergency department patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those beds will become available again with the new behavioral rooms.
