MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- Kettering Health Network’s new multi-million dollar medical complex, which is expected to create around 110 new jobs, is the health care system’s way of reaching down into Middletown to provide choice to patients there.
The new 67,000-square-foot Kettering Health Network Middletown on Ohio 122 is set to open at 7 a.m. Wednesday, WCPO media partner the Journal-News reports.
It features a full-service emergency department, outpatient lab and imaging services, including a full complement of magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, X-ray and ultrasound.
The facility also has a medical office building for primary care and specialty practices.
Of the 100-plus jobs to be created, many will be registered nurses, respiratory therapists, imaging and lab technicians and support staff.
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“There’s a substantial number of patients that are Middletown residents … that are traveling up to us for care,” said Daniel Tryon, campus administrator and executive director of Kettering Health Network Middletown. “For us, wanting to bring access close to our patients is a huge part of it.”
The goal of the facility is to be a “one-stop shop” for area residents’ medical needs, Tryon said.
Kettering Health Network Middletown, a more than $36 million investment, is the work of an in-house construction and design team, allowing the health network to take what it has learned from one project and apply it to the next, including maximizing space, Tryon said.
“It’s not just the state-of-the-art (technology) that we’ve learned from (that) is happening across the country, but it’s also just best practices that we’ve learned from other facilities that we’ve built here in the Greater Dayton area,” Tryon said. “(Additionally), everything here is designed on the patient experience, so a lot of time, a lot of input from patients.”
Eight of the emergency rooms are specifically designed for patients who require longer-term stays than typical emergency room visits. They also provide a larger, more quiet space geared toward fostering a healing environment for older patients, as well as family members and friends of all patients. Rooms include a large flat-screen television and ample natural light.
The facility’s welcome desk features a team that oversees all registration components. Putting those individuals front and center rather than sequestered in an office ensures a warm greeting instead of a sometimes daunting open space often featured at other facilities, Tryon said.
“It’s kind of like what Apple did with the Genius Bar, changing that whole waiting and checking process,” Tryon said. “When we asked patients what they want, they want to be able to walk right up to a desk when they first get in and check in, know what’s going on and go from there.”
Located to the right of the entrance, the main lobby is designed to be set apart from the hustle and bustle of the emergency room.
There’s also a lab and a variety of specialties, including cardiovascular, surgery, orthopedic, vascular and general surgery, plus several more uses coming soon, such as OB/GYN, endocrinology and behavioral health.
The facility is filled with the state-of-the-art technology, including a new X-ray device that puts results immediately on a viewing screen, a new 64-slice CT system, a wide-bore MRI Scanner and other devices capable of allowing doctors from throughout the network to remotely access data and help with diagnosis and treatment.
That, Tryon said, is especially helpful in times of increased patient load.
“It’s a lot of that to help smooth that kind of throughout the system to prevent that wait,” said John Weimer, vice president of Emergency and Trauma Services for Kettering Health Network. “It gives patients and their family (an idea of) what’s going on because it is such a vulnerable (time).”
The new medical facility also offers a community room, Tryon said.
“We want to provide great care here; we want to invite the community here to share education and just be a community partner,” he said. “We also want to reach out and be involved in the community. Having a space here allows us to do some of that.”
A security office will be staffed by deputized police officers from Middletown Division of Police employed by Kettering Health Network.
Additional space will open in the building Sept. 18, including an area dedicated to cardiac testing, EKGs and other heart-related tests cardiologists may require for diagnosis and treatment.
Approximately 17,000 square feet of shell space eventually will be filled by whatever is needed most by local residents and the physicians who treat them.
“What we’ve found with projects like this is we want to get in, we want to listen to the community, and then this gives us space to expand and meet whatever those community needs are,” Tryon said. “Having that here ahead of time just allows us to be growth focused and supporting whatever the needs are.”
