The largest capital campaign in WCA Hospital's 124-year history got under way Friday morning when hospital officials announced the start of a $16.5 million capital campaign to construct and equip a new emergency department, along with a $10 million endowment campaign that will help support future hospital projects.
Dr. Lillian Vitanza Ney, a retired cardiologist who served as the medical director and vice president of medical affairs at WCA during her tenure there, was named chair of the ''Sharing the Gift of Health'' campaign.
''We're embarking on something that will require people to give from their hearts,'' she said. ''This community has so much to offer - but without a strong hospital and an efficient, high-quality emergency care department, we're letting our community down. And if we're going to see the revitalization of our community, we need a strong emergency care department. When manufacturers are asked what they need to see in a community they'd like to move into, an excellent school system and a solid, handy, accessible and efficient emergency room are tops on the list.''
A NEW SPACE
The hospital's existing 7,700-square-foot emergency department was constructed in the 1970s. Built to accommodate 10,000 annual patient visits, the existing emergency department has 13 treatment rooms and 20 beds.
But the existing facility is bursting at the seams - 53 percent of all emergency department visits in Chautauqua County are made to WCA Hospital's emergency department. In 2008, 34,786 patients came through the hospital's emergency room, making the hospital's emergency department the primary driver of inpatient volume - more than 77 percent of all hospital in-patients begin their care in the emergency department.
''I've seen our emergency room go a long way,'' said Dr. Bert Rappole, who has been part of the hospital's medical staff since 1973. ''It's been expanded over the years, but now there is more stress on the emergency room and the staff. We have outgrown (our existing department), without question. We're all so excited about this new effort, which I think is going to make it easier for us to provide the high-quality emergency room care this community has come to expect of us. The emergency is the key to the whole thing as far as having access to patients who are acutely ill and moving them on to the care they need.''
The new 18,000-square-foot emergency department will feature 30 new treatment rooms that are divided from one another by solid walls and sliding glass doors - a far more private environment than currently exists in the emergency room, where patient beds inside each treatment room are divided by floor-to-ceiling curtains.
The opening of the new emergency department will coincide with the implementation of electronic medical records at WCA, an intentional dovetailing that, according to Mrs. Wright, means the hospital will be able to minimize patient treatment time, decrease admission time and improve efficiency and collaboration.
Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2010 on the facility, which will be built adjacent to the existing emergency department. The facility will also be designed to support the future addition of upper floors - important because WCA Hospital will need additional space at its Foote Avenue campus to complete its consolidation project, which involves moving services from Jones Memorial Hospital to the main campus.
Several years ago, the hospital was prepared for a $3.6 million emergency department renovation project that was part of a capital campaign run between 2000 and 2004 by co-chairmen Allan Short and Peter Sullivan.
The money raised from that capital campaign was supposed to have built a cardiac catheterization lab, funded equipment enhancements and renovations in the hospital's surgical department and funded the renovation project. But between the initial planning stages and what should have been the start of construction, a lot happened - starting with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Those went ''a long way,'' according to Betsy Wright the hospital's president and CEO, toward changing standards for bioterrorism preparedness and new construction, which meant that the project's price tag would dramatically increase.
''They raised over $7 million through that campaign and enabled us to build the cath lab and make improvements in our operating rooms,'' she said. ''We took the $3.6 million from that campaign and set it aside. We're so thankful to use that as part of our fund for this emergency department project. We have been the grateful benefactors of their great leadership.''
COMMUNITY SUPPORT SOUGHT
To date, the campaign has raised nearly $10.9 million toward the $16.5 million capital campaign goal. Gifts and pledges will be solicited during the public phase, which will run through 2013.
Dr. Rappole said the active physicians, board members and management of WCA Hospital raised $500,000 toward the project, an amount he said will be matched by the Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation. The foundation has separately given $2 million to the project.
Brigetta Overcash, chair of the W.C.A. Foundation, said that foundation has made a $1 million pledge toward the hospital's capital campaign.
Other businesses and foundations who have given more than $10,000 include The Lenna Foundation, WCA Hospital Auxiliary, the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Hultquist Foundation, the Winifred Crawford Diebert Foundation, the Holmberg Foundation, the Johnson Foundation, Acu-Rite Companies Inc. and SKF Aeroengine.
''We've started it, but now we need to finish it - and we're going to need the help of the community,'' Dr. Rappole said.
Dr. Ney said she would run the capital campaign the same way she approached the community service for which she is so well-known - by fostering partnerships.
''You have to foster partnerships and work together,'' she said. ''I look at this as a team approach. I think the hospital, the community, the city government and the surrounding county are part of making quality-of-life what we want it to be. None of us can do this without the others - it has to be an integrated, collaborative approach, and I think it's that spirit of cooperation that will make this capital campaign a success.''
While Dr. Ney acknowledged the campaign would be a difficult one during a time when the national unemployment rate is 10 percent and, as she said, ''people are suffering,'' she also said a ''strong hospital'' is necessary to a vibrant community. Dr. Ney also said the project would help increase the city's tax base, important in a time when city officials are struggling with budgetary challenges, but help with physician recruitment.
Judith Burgett, chair of the hospital's board of trustees, said the hospital's emergency department is the hospital's ''front door.''
''I have seen how important our emergency department is to our future,'' she said. ''It is the front door to inpatient services and is severely lacking in the space needed to accommodate yearly visits. The people in this room are the movers and shakers - let's move ahead and get this new emergency department built.''
