ACMC Chief of Staff Alexander Taich, MD; ACMC Board of Directors President Nancy Kister; and ACMC President and CEO Michael Habowski break ground on the new patient care tower, which will open in the first quarter of 2024.
Ashtabula County Medical Center broke ground in the summer of 2022 on a new 115,000-square-foot patient care tower. This is the hospital’s largest construction project and the first major construction to the Lake Avenue campus in more than 40 years. Prior major construction projects for the hospital were in 1916, 1952, 1963, and 1975. The new patient care tower will further our commitment to advancing healthcare for years to come. It is designed to adapt to new technology and incorporate new equipment as they are developed.
Throughout the construction, ACMC remains open with all services available at the hospital. Services such as blood draws and other lab services, digital X-Ray and ultrasound, and physical therapy are also available at our Family Health Centers.
The new patient care tower will connect to the current hospital on the south side of the building and will give patients and caregivers more exposure to natural light.
The patient care tower will have 24 Emergency Department rooms. Two separate roadways will lead to the new Emergency Department – one for patients and one for Emergency Medical Services squads. Emergency Department patients will have dedicated parking spaces as they do now.
The Patient Care Tower will have 55 private patient rooms, which will have private bathrooms and showers and will be more spacious and comfortable for families while visiting their loved one. Patients on the east side of the tower will have views of the Ashtabula River.
The new intensive care unit will feature 10 state-of-the-art rooms. Teams of ACMC caregivers were engaged to help determine aspects of the design and room layout. Rooms in the new tower are being designed around workflows, not the other way around. New technology was incorporated in the plans that will allow caregivers to spend more time at the bedside with patients. And several additional safety measures – in direct patient care an in everyday operations of the building – were included.
Five new operating rooms are being built in the patient care tower. The rooms are larger to more easily adapt to changing technology. The surgery waiting area will be spacious and comfortable and will have a private area where a surgeon can speak with family.
The main lobby will be warm and welcoming and will have comfortable furnishings.