St. Joseph’s opens new surgical suite

SYRACUSE — St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center today held an opening event for its new surgical suite.

 

The 70,000-square-foot surgical suite includes 15 operating rooms, two more than its current surgical area, St. Joseph’s said in a news release. Its current facility covers 22,000 square feet.

 

Each operating room is 50 percent larger to accommodate the medical technology and equipment and larger surgical teams, the hospital said.

 

This new space has all the features needed to perform surgeries now and into the future, Kathryn Ruscitto, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, said during the opening event.

 

“It’s high tech, based on many best practices,” Ruscitto said.

 

The new surgical suite also includes a post-anesthesia care unit, which the hospital has expanded from 16 to 25 beds to increase annual capacity from 10,500 patients to 14,000 patients, St. Joseph’s said.

 

Additionally, the new co-located central-sterile unit is nearly four times larger than the previous, 40-year-old unit, according to the hospital.

 

The sterile unit’s position adjacent to the suite “increases safety and efficiency,” while “green” instrument washers will save water and electricity, the hospital said.

 

“The sustainable aspects of this construction for … this project are incredible, so a lot of great energy savings have gone into it, so overall, it’s a tremendous project,” New York Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy said in his remarks during the event.

 

The effort is part of an ongoing expansion project at St. Joseph’s that has included a new parking garage, an expanded lobby, and a new emergency department, all of which were completed in the past few years.

 

Completion on a new patient tower is expected in late 2014, according to St. Joseph’s.

 

The surgical-suite project cost totals $80 million, which is about two-thirds of the $123 million total cost of phase 2B of the St. Joseph’s expansion project, according to Marylin Galimi, director of engineering and construction at St. Joseph’s.

 

King + King Architects LLP of Syracuse designed the surgical suite. The Hayner Hoyt Corporation is serving as the construction manager on the project.

 

 

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com