FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 065-04
March 23, 2004

MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG AND HEALTH AND HOSPITALS CORPORATION PRESIDENT BENJAMIN CHU UNVEIL NEW $27 MILLION STATE-OF-THE-ART CRITICAL CARE PAVILION AT BELLEVUE HOSPITAL CENTER

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC ) President Dr. Benjamin Chu today dedicated the new Critical Care Pavilion at Bellevue Hospital Center. The new adult critical care services unit is one of the largest in the nation, measuring 56,000 square feet. The multi-specialty patient care unit will consist of 40 critical-care beds and 16 step-down beds, encompassing neurosurgery, cardiology, medicine, surgery, trauma and cardiothoracic surgery. The $27 million project was financed by bonds issued by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. The City is currently paying the debt service on these bonds.

"New York City's public hospitals are second to none in providing excellent trauma care," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The cutting-edge technology and patient-care design that is available at Bellevue Hospital's new Critical Care Pavilion will offer the best possible care for critically ill New Yorkers, and the best possible setting for them to get healthy and resume their lives."

"The opening of this Critical Care Pavilion at Bellevue marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to provide state of the art therapeutic environments for patient care throughout New York City," said Dr. Chu. "This new design brings together all critical care specialties on a single floor to ensure that seriously ill patients receive the best possible treatment."

The critical care pavilion at Bellevue Hospital Center is the first major installation of an overhead delivery system for critical care in New York City, and places Bellevue among the largest installations in emerging medical technology in the country. Overhead delivery systems allow state-of-the-art services for such things as IV, suction and electrical to be attached to the ceiling and can swivel to 360 degrees to allow ease of use and better comfort for the patient.

The Critical Care Pavilion at Bellevue Hospital Center combines traditional intensive care beds and step-down beds on the same floor. Step-down beds are utilized by patients when they improve from the more serious ICU beds, but still need specialized medical attention. In other hospitals, when patients improve out of intensive care units, they are typically moved off their floor, causing some discomfort and a less efficient use of services since hospital doctors must travel across many different floors to see their patients. At the Critical Care Pavilion, when patients improve from ICU beds, they can be placed in the step-down beds, which improve patient care and minimize discomfort. The multi-specialty patient care unit consists of 40 critical-care beds and 16 step-down beds.

In each of the four corners of the critical care pavilion there is a large nursing care station, outfitted with computerized radiology imaging equipment, critical-care central-monitoring systems and patient-charting and information systems. There also are 24 satellite nursing-care stations, one for every two patient-rooms, with the patient-charting and information systems. There are also numerous patient waiting rooms and family discussion rooms.

In addition, each room has a computerized patient-charting system that captures and archives all vital signs, laboratory results, patient's history, pharmaceutical orders and pictorial archival computerized system, or PACS. Along the corridors are wireless computers that allow the care givers to securely access any information about the patient. Wireless computers on carts perform similar functions while care givers are on rounds.

Bellevue Hospital Center is internationally recognized for its excellence in caring for complex trauma and critical care patients. It is the only hospital in New York City with concurrent designations as a Level One Trauma Center, a Heart Station, a Micro-surgical and Reimplantation Center, a Regional Center for Head and Spinal Cord Injury and a designated New York State Regional Perinatal Center.

Bellevue has more than 500,000 patient visits annually. Its emergency room alone treats more than 100,000 people from all parts of the city and the world. Erected in 1736 on the site of today's City Hall, Bellevue is one of the oldest medical institutions in the Western hemisphere. Since 1970, it has been a member of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the nation's largest municipal health-care system.

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