Opening of New Driscoll Children’s Hospital Emergency Department

Driscoll Children’s Hospital recently held their ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the main phase of their newly expanded and renovated Emergency Department (ED). Representing the entire Page Team, Principal Kregg Elsass attended the celebration of this significant project.

Driscoll opened in 1953 and was the first hospital in South Texas to offer emergency services specifically for children in 1987. Their new ED will provide sufficient and high-quality space to help them care for nearly 40,000 children every year.

The Emergency Department Expansion & Renovation Project is located on the first floor of the existing facility and was designed to provide all private patient treatment rooms, improve functional work flow, enhance unit visibility and enlarge family waiting areas. Also included within the project scope is a new trauma-sized elevator that connects the emergency department to the second floor radiology and surgery departments and to the third floor Neonatal ICU.

Further, the hospital had to accomplish this project to modernize and expand their existing space while maintaining operations during the entire construction process.  In order to accomplish this complex task, the project has been implemented in three major phases that includes complete replacement of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in the affected construction areas.

There still remains one final phase of the project that includes work in the area where the ED functioned during the main construction phase as well as a complete upgrade and expansion of their main entrance lobby and gift shop.  Page Associate Principal Marsha Esponda Bernard has been an essential player, working with the contractor, Fulton Construction, to help this project succeed and ensure the institution maintained operations throughout the entire process.

The ceremony celebrated the completion of the first and second phases, and the hospital began accepting patients in the new area just two days after the ribbon cutting celebration.

You can read more about the unveiling of the new Emergency Department on the Driscoll website.