Salem Township Hospital CEO Jim Timpe reported to the hospital board Wednesday afternoon that the $17-million renovation and expansion project is ‘on budget and on time’. The timeline is for the expanded emergency and operating rooms to be completed in August 2027.
Timpe says the first phase of the three-phase project is nearing completion.
“In March of this year we should finish phase one, then the state will come in to approve that,” Timpe said. “After they’re done approving that we’ll move on to phase two in April. Phase two of the project will involve the emergency room temporarily moving for almost a year. We will be moving that more towards the interior of the hospital in the newly constructed area so that we have a lot of operational plans in place to make sure that goes smoothly.”
Timpe says the newly finished area will have a temporary usage as the project enters Phase II.
“The biggest one was redoing what used to be the rural health center. That is turning into the new pre- and post-surgery area that we call same-day surgery. That area is where people will start before surgery and recover after surgery after they’re done with their anesthesia recovery. That area now instead of having six bays will have twelve bays, but first it has to be the temporary eight-bed emergency room.”
Timpe says there will be limited entry in the current emergency room area, so he is encouraging entrance through the front entrance during the construction process.
In other action, the board re-elected its officers for another year. They are Sandi Phillips as President, Mike Morton as Vice President and Susan Knapp as treasurer.
The board was told during the first nine months of the fiscal year, the hospital has given $1,567,402 in charity care to those who had no other way to pay for treatment.
