Cleveland Clinic Akron General unveiled its new state-of-the-art emergency department that greatly expands the hospital’s ability to treat people with life-threatening injuries.
The head of the emergency department, Dr. Steven Brooks, led a tour of the gleaming white 67,000- square-foot facility. The new ER is a stand-alone building across the street from the existing ER in downtown Akron.
Brooks pointed to equipment in one of the two acute trauma operating room.
“We can crack a chest in here. We can open the abdomen, if need be by the trauma surgeons,” he said.
Akron General President Dr. Brian Harte said the current emergency department does a great job, but “the needs of the community and the advances of medical capabilities and technology have really advanced far beyond the current footprint could accommodate and that’s what this facility really represents.”
The new $49.3 million facility is three times the size of the current ER.
Akron General’s 38 emergency physicians, plus residents, nurses and support staff will begin work in the new facility Tuesday, when it opens to the public.