Smithfield’s Johnston Memorial Hospital Continues to Grow
expansion, health care, johnston memorial hospital, smithfield,
Johnston Memorial Hospital in Smithfield is moving up – five stories up‚ that is.
Due to the county’s growth‚ the hospital decided to build a new five-story bed tower. In all‚ the 194‚000-square-foot structure will allow for about 199 beds.
“The bed tower shows that we are growing along with the community‚” says Susan Phillips‚ community relations director. “The population growth in Johnston County has just about demanded that we not only expand physically‚ but also that we expand our medical staff and our services.”
The present hospital will remain‚ but will be revamped into office space and non-patient areas.
Not only is the hospital adding space‚ but also a totally different look and feel within that space.
“The rooms will be larger‚ more comfortable and more family oriented‚ ” Phillips says.
The entire bed tower will also be high-tech‚ with wireless Internet access and flat-screen televisions in every patient’s room. And patients aren’t the only ones getting more comfortable. Instead of recliners for visitors‚ each room will now come equipped with a window seat‚ which will fold out into a twin bed.
There will also be a private area for nurses‚ separated by a curtain‚ to give patients and families more privacy.
The new entrance to the hospital will also get an extreme makeover. Instead of entering at the current access on Bright Leaf Boulevard‚ visitors will enter at what is now the rear of the hospital. There will also be a new cafeteria at the front of the hospital‚ and the atrium will have an escalator leading up to the next floor.
The bed tower is expected to reach completion in 2009 and will make the county hospital’s new size a grand total of 440‚000 square feet. And one of the best parts about the new facility is that all the money used for its construction and renovations will be paid for by federal grants and reserves from the hospital‚ and not from county dollars.
While the bed tower is the newest and perhaps most dramatic change the hospital has seen‚ it is far from the only recent addition it’s had. Newer services include wound care‚ physiatry (rehab and pain management) and pulmonology units. The wound care service offers two hyperbaric chambers‚ added in 2003‚ which allow patients suffering from burns and diabetic bedsores to heal at a rapid pace.
In the same year the hospital added a medical mall‚ which now houses its cancer center‚ urgent care facility and a 3‚000-square-foot wellness center‚ complete with two pools.
The hospital isn’t just growing on campus. It have also reached out to surrounding areas‚ Phillips says‚ with an urgent care center in Garner and an outpatient surgery center in Clayton.
Story by Jenni Betts
Photo by Brian McCord
