From staff reports
Beaufort Memorial is celebrating the Pratt Emergency Center’s 10th year of operation and treatment of nearly 500,000 patients over the past decade.
In addition, the hospital has announced planned renovations for the 20,500-square-foot facility, which treats approximately 50,000 patients annually. These renovations will help ER staff manage the evolving needs of future patients.
“It’s hard to believe we reopened this facility 10 years ago,” Beaufort Memorial Emergency Center Director Kevin Kremer, RN, said in a news release. “I’m very proud of the care our team continues to provide around the clock for patients in our community.”
The current state-of-the-art center includes 26 private rooms, two triage rooms, two trauma rooms, a nine-seat waiting area for patients awaiting discharge and another five individual waiting areas for patients requiring extra monitoring, infusions or additional space and privacy.
The large addition to the hospital, which opened January 9, 2013, was made possible by generous community donations and nearly $1 million contributed by Beaufort Memorial employees. The catalyst for the project however, was a large gift from Dr. Bruce Pratt in honor of his parents, Sarah Meyer Pratt and George Nathaniel Pratt.
Other features include automated check-in kiosks, two enclosed decontamination areas for patients exposed to toxins, three outdoor decontamination showers for non-toxic exposures and two isolation rooms for patients with communicable diseases like tuberculosis, chicken pox or measles.
This year, Beaufort Memorial will be investing approximately $750,000 in renovations and improvements to the Emergency Department. The project includes a new two-room and two recliner-bay psychiatric evaluation and intake unit to allow for a quiet environment separated from the busy ER atmosphere and additional safety measures to handle patients who may be prone to violence, prevent elopement and reduce risk of self-harm.
Beaufort Memorial has been consecutively awarded the Drive to Zero Suicide Award from the South Carolina Hospital Association and the South Carolina Department of Mental Health for its evidence-based suicide prevention training of staff, formal policies to screen patients, enhanced safety planning and a follow-up process for patients with local community mental health resources.
“The new facility improvements are part of our ongoing efforts to ensure that we are providing the highest level of quality care and patient safety possible, while serving a growing number of patients with mental health concerns,” Beaufort Memorial President and CEO Russell Baxley, MHA, said in a news release.
To learn more about the new Pratt Emergency Center, visit BeaufortMemorial.org.
