News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2014 

HHC Harlem Hospital Opens New Emergency Department and Trauma Center

Harlem Hospital Center Opens New Expanded Adult and Pediatric Emergency Departments & Level 1 Trauma Center

Doubles Adult ED Space; Nearly Triples Pediatric ED Space; Represents Final Phase of $325 Million Hospital Modernization Project

New ED Keeps Name in Honor of the Late Community Leader Marshall C. England

New York, NY ― New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation’s Harlem Hospital Center officials and community leaders today marked the opening of the hospital’s new 30,000-square-foot, $19 million state-of-the-art adult and pediatric emergency departments (ED), which doubles current adult ED space and nearly triples pediatric ED space to expand patient access and privacy, and improves patient flow and comfort. Harlem Hospital is a Level 1 trauma center and area-wide burn unit, and its emergency department sees about 75,000 visits annually. The opening of the ED was announced at a ribbon cutting event by Denise C. Soares, RN, MA, Senior Vice President of the HHC Generations+/Northern Manhattan Health Network and Harlem Hospital Center Executive Director. She was joined by HHC President Alan D. Aviles, HHC Acting Board Chair Reverend Diane Lacey, Medical Director Maurice Wright, M.D., Adult Emergency Services Chief Reynold Trowers, M.D., and Pediatric Emergency Services Chief Valerie Thompson, M.D.

	Harlem leaders celebrate the opening. L-R: Assemblyman Keith T. Wright; Dir., Commission on the Public's Health System, Judy Wessler; Harlem Hospital Medical Director Dr. Maurice Wright; Senior Vice President, Generations +/ Northern Manhattan Health Network Denise Soares; HHC President Alan D. Aviles

“We appreciate the opportunity to provide our patients and the community with the best we have to offer, as they deserve it,” said Denise C. Soares. “The new expanded emergency areas mean that we will increase our capacity to treat the most seriously ill and injured, and will be able to provide patients with a better overall experience when they visit.”

The new Adult Emergency Department – located on the first floor of the recently built Mural Pavilion – features 26 private treatment rooms, increasing the capacity from 17 rooms that had only open bays. The new Adult ED increases the number of trauma care bays from two to four, increases the number of treatment chairs for asthma patients from four to eight, and adds eight additional observation bays.

Harlem Hospital’s new Pediatric Emergency Department, also located on the first floor of the Mural Pavilion, almost triples the available space. It expands capacity from four to six private treatment rooms, increases treatment chairs for pediatric asthma patients from six to eight, and features two pediatric trauma care bays. The hospital also has a new radiology suite to serve both areas, with a new more sensitive “64-slice” CAT scanner. In addition, the Emergency Department has established a RADT Team (Rapid Assessment Diagnostic Treatment Team) designed to decrease patient waiting times.

The new Emergency Department is the final part of Harlem Hospital’s $325 million modernization project, the primary component of which is the new Mural Pavilion. The overall modernization project features expanded specialty care suites, new adult and burn intensive care units, a Bariatric Center of Excellence, surgical practices, a new women’s imaging department, and pre-admission testing suites. The new Mural Pavilion is also home to a gallery of priceless WPA murals from the 1930s, commissioned by the Federal government from local artists.

The new Emergency Department walk-in entrance is located on the First Floor of The Mural Pavilion on 137th Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues. The ambulance and EMS entrance is located on 136th and Fifth Avenue.

The new Emergency Department will continue to be named in honor of Marshall C. England, the health care advocate and former president of the Harlem Hospital Center Community Advisory Board.

See the news coverage on NY1.

 

About Harlem Hospital Center

Harlem Hospital Center is a 286-bed hospital that provides a broad array of preventive, primary and acute care services including general medicine and medical subspecialties, general surgery and surgical subspecialties, infectious diseases, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and neonatology, critical care, imaging, radiology and nuclear medicine, rehabilitation medicine, psychiatry and substance abuse services, dental and oral surgery, physical, speech and occupational therapies. We are an Area-Wide Burn Center and Level I Trauma, with Centers of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery, Breast Imaging and Sexual Assault Forensics, a designated Stroke and AIDS Center, a World Health Organization’s UNICEF Designated Baby Friendly Hospital and a member of America’s Essential Hospitals Safety Net Hospitals. Harlem Hospital Center is a member of New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and part of the Generations+/Northern Manhattan Health Network. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hhc/harlem or call (212) 939-1000.

About HHC

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system with its own 420,000 member health plan, MetroPlus, and is the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, five skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission's John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hhc or find us on facebook.com/nycHHC or twitter.com/HHCnyc.