BEATRICE - Progress continues on an addition to a southeast Nebraska hospital.  The steel frame of the addition is up, and Beatrice Community Hospital Senior Executive for Clinic Services Eric Trusty says the goal is to have the addition enclosed by late fall.

"The anticipated completion date is actually mid-April. We're looking at doing a lot of pre-planning for that...right now...but otherwise, things are on time at this point. They have not indicated any supply chain issues....and as everybody knows during Covid, that's really slowed down a lot of construction projects."

The new addition will be accessible from both east and west sides of the building, and was preceded by installing new paved parking to the northeast of the main hospital. The $13.3 million facility will add nearly 22,500 to the BCH Campus.  Trusty says plumbing and electrical installation is taking place, with the floor of the addition to be poured soon.

"We're moving all of our primary care providers into one area out here on the hospital campus. Beatrice Family Internal Medicine, which currently is on the second floor of the hospital...they'll move into the new building... Gage County Medical, and then Beatrice Medical Center. Those three clinics will all consolidate together. Really, when we looked at this and made the decision, we always have the patient in mind. One of the reasons is patient access. There really should be no reason that a patient cannot get an appointment at a time they would like. Now, it may not be with their primary care provider, because that provider may have a full schedule that day...but if you have an acute issue and need to be seen that day, there will be other providers available to do that."

Trusty says the addition will mean being able to better address staffing issues…especially when Covid is still occasionally creating staffing shortages. He says the medical office building will also create a type of one-stop shop for patients.  "Whether it be lab....diagnostic imaging...our specialists will be able to coordinate better with our specialists who come down to Beatrice. So, you could go see your primary care provider and we can coordinate that visit with your cardiologist, for example....and have all that be at the same time."

The new addition will have negative pressure rooms included, to help deal with patients more safely….where Covid or the flu may be impacting them. The hospital will also be moving their immunization clinic to the main campus.

"Wymore Medical Clinic will remain in Wymore. The staff and providers there have been doing an exceptional job of taking care of the patients and serving the communities in the Wymore area. They've been extremely busy and continue to build that practice and we will continue to have a presence in Wymore, so nothing will change there. Express Care will remain in its current location, at this time."

The Beatrice Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Clinic will relocate from the second floor of the hospital to the main level closer to the Medical Office Building. The Beatrice Family and Internal Medicine addition is being built, ten years after the new hospital opened.