Portsmouth Regional Hospital Begins $63 Million Expansion to Serve Community Needs

Expansion Highlights Include:  New Main Entrance and Lobby; Conversion to All-Private Rooms; Creation of a Cardiac "Hospital Within a Hospital”; Complete Patient Care Area Renovations; and Surgery and Endoscopy Expansion

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PORTSMOUTH, N.H., 6/15/2007 – Portsmouth Regional Hospital has started a $63 million expansion project to enhance and extend the high level of healthcare provided to greater Seacoast residents.  The multi-year, phased expansion, which was formally approved in April by the state of New Hampshire, will add nearly 68,000 square feet of new construction and more than 88,000 square feet of renovations to the existing facility.  Renovations and construction will be augmented with the addition of new technology, equipment, furniture, wireless internet access, flat-screen TVs and a host of other patient care and comfort features.  A unique aspect of this expansion is that the new lobby is being designed to reflect and honor the nautical heritage of the Seacoast area.

“It is fitting that we are embarking on this dramatic expansion exactly twenty years after Portsmouth Regional Hospital relocated to its current location,” said William Schuler, president and CEO of Portsmouth Regional Hospital.  “This expansion is the next important, natural step in the evolution of healthcare for this community.  We’ve added more than 20 new physicians in the past year, and it’s exciting to be able to provide our physicians, staff and patients with a facility that reflects the advanced, high quality care already being done here every day.”

The expansion, which is currently in its development and planning stage, is scheduled for completion in 2012.  However, the construction and renovation will take place in phases, so different aspects of the project will be completed throughout the project’s timeframe.  This phased construction will also allow the expansion to take place with minimal disruption to staff and patients.  One of the first projects that will be undertaken will be a vertical expansion above the existing Shoals Building, creating a full third floor with 40 private, monitored medical-surgical beds for the hospital’s nationally recognized Heart and Lung Center.  Another important phase of the project will a surgical expansion, which will include the addition of a new operating room and additional endoscopy room. 

Surgeon John Gens, M.D.,F.A.C.S., F.I.C.S., a resident of Portsmouth since 1979, is pleased that the state has “approved this essential project that makes this hospital an even greater asset to Seacoast residents.  This expansion allows already successful programs like cardiac surgery,

the bariatric surgery program and the neurosurgical program, which are already unique to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, to advance even further.”

Portsmouth Regional Hospital and its parent company, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), has contracted with architectural firm JSA Inc. (www.jsainc.com) on the design of the project.  JSA Inc. is a national firm with a local office in Portsmouth featuring a dedicated healthcare team that creates environments that support leading edge technology, clinical efficiency and patient sensitivity.  JSA’s work has been nationally recognized, and they have completed similar hospital projects in Florida, Maine and New Hampshire.  Input regarding design and planning is being gathered from several constituencies, including hospital trustees, physicians, nurses and other support staff.  Presentations and discussions will also be held during the planning stage regarding the expansion with local community members and civic groups, such as the Portsmouth Rotary and The Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce.

Highlights of the expansion include: 

• A new main entrance and lobby with a double-height atrium will consolidate entry into the hospital. The theme for the new entrance and lobby will be the rich maritime history of Portsmouth.  Numerous items that reflect our city’s nautical heritage will be included in the lobby, and the overall design itself will contain several elements to remind patients and visitors of our proximity to, reliance on and affinity for the ocean.  
   
• All patient rooms will be significantly upgraded, resulting in all private rooms with wireless computer access, flat-screen televisions, better accommodations for high tech equipment and additional patient-centric comfort features.  
   
• The creation of a cardiac “hospital within a hospital” for the hospital’s nationally-recognized Heart and Lung Center.  A new third floor of the Shoals Building will be constructed to house 40 new private beds that will serve as an intermediate care unit.  Cardiovascular surgery services will be expanded on the existing second floor to increase accessibility to interventional beds and cardiac catheterization labs.
   
• Surgery and Endoscopy will be expanded to create more room for advanced technology.  This renovation will also allow for better patient and staff flow.