With the opening of its Bauer Emergency Health Care Center last month, Norwalk Hospital nearly doubled its emergency treatment space and further cemented the hospital”™s status as an emergency care leader.
The wrap-up completion date is this fall when the facility will reach its full size. The project was made possible through a $2.5 million gift by philanthropists George and Carol Bauer of Wilton, who have raised millions for Norwalk efforts across some 40 years.
“It is absolutely a state-of-the-art health care center, of which we are very proud,” said Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling. “It brings the emergency care center to a whole new level.”
The 32,000-square-foot facility opened Jan. 21, the first of two phases that included 20 emergency care beds. The effort will expand to 45 beds by fall.
“The staff is excited,” said Dr. Benjamin Greenblatt, chairman of emergency medicine at the hospital. “We have been getting used to this space. It is bigger and more private for the patients and I think the patients are really responding to it. It has made the movement of patients into the emergency department much quicker.”
The new center can handle up to 65,000 patients annually, a sharp increase from the 25,000Â patients annually for whom the old department was designed. To begin, the department foresees handling 50,000 patients annually.
Of the patients that visit the hospital”™s emergency department, 70 percent require what is termed vertical care, meaning the patient has come into the center walking upright, rather than on his or her back via ambulance.
A key component of the new center”™s improved patient flow is its dedicated vertical care center, which allows for nonacute injuries to be more readily addressed and separated from patients requiring critical care.
“It puts the patient in front of the provider and nurse as fast as we can do it,” Greenblatt said. “It is a tremendous resource for the community. The perception is sometimes that you are going to wait a long time in the ER, it is going to be chaotic ”” we certainly have those days ”” but for the most part patients can look forward to having a much more streamlined experience.”
Rilling agreed that the new care center is a much-needed boon to a rapidly changing Norwalk.
“Norwalk is a growing community,” he said. “The emergency center prior to this new center had been operational for many years, with some upgrades, but certainly in need of expansion. In a growing community, it was becoming overwhelmed.”
He notes that the hospital is considered a level 2 trauma center, the second highest level of trauma center and one capable of handling the most complicated and critical needs.
From years of volunteer service to mega donations, the Bauers have been tremendously generous with their time and money, Greenblatt said.
Since 1970s, the Bauers have made numerous contributions to the Norwalk community ”“ specifically to the hospital by helping to raise more than $50 million.
“Carol and George Bauer are such wonderful people, giving so much to help so many,” Rilling said.
