The hub-and-spoke model provides both centralization and connectivity. When applied to the Emergency Department, this model drives the majority of health care within the community. Think of the Emergency Department as mission control, something that is vital to the operations of the entire hospital and a first point of contact where patients in need of help can be served. In the West Valley, Banner Boswell Medical Center obtains more than 80 percent of its admissions directly through the Emergency Department.
This critical first point of care offers direct and swift access to specialized care such as cancer-fighting treatment, orthopedics, cardiac and other health services. Best represented as a hub-and-spoke model, this design connects patients efficiently and directly to the care they need, when they need it. That’s why the Emergency Department relies on innovations and advancements to keep this flow moving at top efficiency and to continue providing world-class medical care. This article will outline our community’s growing emergency care needs and what our community can do to ensure the future of superior health care today and for future generations.
Keeping this model operating at top efficiency
In the case of the Emergency Department, the key of the hub-and-spoke model is efficiency. This transformation will allow the hospital to keep up with the community demand and continue to be the vital hub providing optimal access to medical care.
When patients are seeking emergency care, the Emergency Department must have certain diagnostic technologies and adequate patient beds available to meet the needs of the community and provide streamlined access to top-of-the-line health care.
The growth of emergency care in the West Valley
Since its opening in 1970, Banner Boswell Medical Center has filled a vital need for emergency care close to home in our community. Approaching 50 years old, the existing ED accommodates around 45,000 patient visits per year. As the surrounding community has grown, annual ED visits have increased accordingly. Today, this vital health care hub is one of the busiest in Arizona. In order to continue providing efficient, compassionate health care, the Emergency Department requires a complete transformation. This will allow it to serve a growing West Valley, help keep the hospital ahead of the medical technology curve, and continue to ensure superior medical care, today and for future generations.
Community support for this transformation is vital to keeping the Emergency Department running smoothly as a major healthcare “hub” in the West Valley.
The community solution
Banner Bowell Medical Center’s $34 million Emergency Department and Patient Care Transformation is a major initiative of Sun Health Foundation’s Generosity for Generations Campaign.
The main goals for this construction include:
- Expanding capacity from 45,000 to 60,000 to accommodate more patient visits
- Fulfilling increased equipment needs, including the addition of two CT scanners, ultrasound, X-ray and MRI machines
- Enhancing triage rooms, treatment areas and observation areas
- Increasing patient beds from 42 to 56
- Reducing patient and family wait times
- Designing new entrance areas on the ground floor to streamline flow for ambulance and patient arrivals
- Developing interior floor layouts to better accommodate movement and care needs
- Building a space for future cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs
- Building a structural foundation above the Emergency Department for a future patient tower
Work already is beginning, and is scheduled to be completed in 2020. For a glimpse of the progress, you can watch a recent time-lapse of construction under way.
How you can help
Community support will help to ensure superior health care today and for future generations. To learn more about ways you can help ensure the future of superior emergency care for our community, visit Generosity for Generations Campaign or contact a Director of Philanthropy at (623) 471-8500. Every donation is gratefully received and carefully used.
