Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene in Keene, N.H., is renovating its emergency room to boost safety and efficiency by updating safety features and modernizing a number of private patient rooms, according to an article on the Keene Sentinel website.
Plans include building a 2,200-square-foot addition onto the existing hospital building, which is about 153,650 square feet. The renovation will increase the department’s space by 20 percent, the article said.
Growth in patient numbers, combined with long wait times and a cramped space have resulted in some violent attacks on emergency department staff in recent years, the article said.
The renovations will include building 22 private rooms, two of which will be dedicated to patients with behavioral health issues.