Beaumont Breaks Ground on New Royal Oak Emergency Center

Gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony at Beaumont Hospital – Royal Oak were, from left, hospital president Shane Cerone; Dr. Leslie Rocher, hospital senior vice president, chief academic officer and physician-in chief; health system chair of emergency medicine Dr. Terry Kowalenko; and Royal Oak Mayor Jim Ellison. (Photo submitted)

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Officials broke ground this week on a new $120.8 million Emergency Center at Beaumont Hospital-Royal Oak that should be complete by spring 2017.

It will feature private rooms and new equipment, and will increase the hospital’s capacity, according to a news release.

The new Emergency Center is a “front door” for Beaumont Hospital – Royal Oak, a teaching hospital and referral hospital for complex care, hospital president Shane Cerone said in a news release.

The expansion will allow the hospital to treat more patients in a modern and private environment, he said.

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The new Emergency Center will feature 125 private rooms, 16 of which will be dedicated to Beaumont Children’s Hospital. Experienced staff members with pediatric emergency medicine training are already on site, led by board-certified pediatric emergency medicine specialists.

The Pediatric Emergency Center offers direct, immediate access to Beaumont Children’s Hospital for children who require admission. More than half of the children who are admitted to Beaumont Children’s Hospital are treated initially in the Pediatric Emergency Center at Beaumont Hospital – Royal Oak.

“This new Emergency Center will offer the medical expertise Beaumont is known for in an environment using the latest technology,” said Dr. Terry Kowalenko, chairman of Emergency Medicine and senior vice president of Beaumont Health.

Beaumont and a team of architects developed the new design with the input of physicians, nurses, clerks, techs, security experts, environmental services staff and patients and their families. The center will be energy efficient and feature LED lighting. It will also include supportive amenities including a café with fresh, hot food and Starbucks coffee for families of patients.

With this expansion and renovation project, Beaumont Hospital – Royal Oak will continue to be the only accredited Level One Trauma Center in Oakland and Macomb counties, which means the center can handle the most severe trauma cases around the clock.

The new center will have specially designated area for various patient populations: trauma, adults (all adult rooms will be geriatric friendly), children and patients requiring psychiatric care.

Technology in the new Emergency Center will include:

• Ability to monitor patients in every room with devices that can send results to medical staff in a fast, efficient manner
• Noninvasive heart monitoring and testing equipment to evaluate heart and trauma patients quickly
• Ability to communicate information, such as images and lab results, to caregivers throughout the hospital and physician offices via a secure instant messaging computer system
• Handheld devices for all caregivers with all patient information readily accessible to facilitate patient care
• Digital imaging, providing immediate imaging test results
• An MRI machine in the Emergency Center to expedite patient imaging

An expansion and renovation of the Emergency Center was previously planned in 2008. However, after the economic downtown, Beaumont delayed construction on the project.

Harley Ellis Deveraux, based in Southfield, is the architect of the new Emergency Center. Southfield-based Barton Malow is the construction manager. FreemanWhite, based in North Carolina, is the design architect.

Below are some renderings of the completed project.