Marshall Medical Center opening new wing

Marshall Medical Center will celebrate the grand opening of its new South Wing addition by hosting a Community Open House and Teddy Bear Clinic on Saturday, Sept. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1100 Marshall Way in Placerville.

The wing’s new state-of-the-art Emergency Department will be open that day for little visitors to bring in their doll or teddy bear for a check-up, and for the general public to view the brand new technology and features. There will also be live music throughout the day, ongoing health and education tours, carnival games, free refreshments and more.

Although the entirety of the South Wing is not yet completed, the finished additions so far include a Verified Level III Trauma Center, Birth Center and Emergency Department.

The new Emergency Department is complete with 26 technologically-advanced patient rooms, four trauma/resuscitation rooms and two isolation and decontamination rooms for people with tuberculosis or for other hazardous materials situations.

Additionally, some of the new equipment in the Emergency Department includes a cardiac monitor that allows doctors to see their patient’s heartbeats from their homes.

“It was very important for us to increase the technology here,” said Kathy Krejci, chief nursing officer at Marshall Medical Center.

The downstairs of the South Wing occupies the Emergency Department and the Trauma Center, while the second floor will house a 12-bed Intensive Care Unit and the Birth Center. Construction of the ICU has not begun yet, as the hospital is awaiting approval of the plans from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD). However, organizers hope to begin building this portion in about a year.

In the Birth Center, there will now be a total of 17 rooms, whereas the previous facility only had 12. Five of the new rooms are Labor, Delivery, Recovery and Postpartum (LDRP) rooms and the remaining 12 are just Postpartum rooms.

All of the rooms in the Birth Center are private and have increased in size to comfortably fit family members in the room. The LDRP rooms have a designated family space and a pull-out couch for fathers or other members.

“Birthing has become such a family event,” Krejci said. “We’ve made the rooms bigger to accommodate everyone.”

Aside from the larger space, each room has a private bathroom. The LDRP rooms each have whirlpool bathtubs to pamper new mothers, while the other rooms have spacious showers.

Some other highlights of the South Wing include a new piece of surgical equipment called the Da Vinci Robot. This device allows surgeons to perform more precise surgeries because they are able to manipulate their movements through the robot. The machine is used for operations on organs such as the bladder, prostate, throat, kidneys and more.

Before this device came to Marshall, patients would have to go to other hospitals to have these types of surgeries. Now, people don’t need to travel to another location and they have all of the resources they need in this convenient spot.

The Da Vinci Robot will be on display during the Community Open House and doctors will perform “test drive” demonstrations of the equipment.

Even though there is already so much in the South Wing, organizers still have more plans to construct a new kitchen and cafeteria, and a 36-bed telemetry unit. It is predicted that another $30 million is needed to finish the building and these later stages.

Funds for the completed wing so far have come from charitable donations from Marshall Medical Center employees, bond money and operations, and other gifts from community members.

“We are very blessed and grateful for how giving the community is,” Krejci said.

For more information about the South Wing or the Community Open House on Sept. 15, please visit marshallmedical.org.