Springhill Medical Center Expands Emergency Department More than Doubling in Size

The new modern upgrades and expansion to Springhill Medical Center’s Emergency Department are complete!!! And, they have taken what was an extraordinary patient experience to new heights.
Thanks to the vision of the Wallace family, the final phase of the new facility opened in December more than doubling the space it previously had from 7,229 to a much-needed 18,410 squre feet. With a volume for 50,000 patients a year, the expansion’s benefits are easily apparent.
“Studies showed that for our volume, the ED staff was working in a space that was 20 percent of what volume dictated, so expansion was necessary,” said Springhill President and CEO Mr. Jeff St. Clair. “Visitors to our hospital have noticed this modern trend on other units and areas of the hospital, as well. We are so proud to be able to offer such a significant improvement to our patients at the beginning of our 40th year of operation in the Mobile community!”
The project was designed by WHLC architectural firm and constructed by Witherington Construction Company. The new facility includes improvements in patient flow, patient convenience, greater patient capacity, much larger waiting area, better separation of patients based on acuity, more work space with two nursing stations, modern design and décor, better designed and equipped registration and triage areas, better access and parking for ambulances and immediately adjacent to lab and x-ray for ancillary services.
Springhill’s ED is still the only hospital in this city with all emergency medicine board certified physicians and still the EMS radio controlled site for Mobile County. The staff will expand to maintain its strong nurse-to-patient ratio for all beds.
“The ED staff has worked under incredibly straining conditions in regards to space and volume of patients,” Mr. St. Clair explains. “They have persevered for a long time in limited space for the 50,000 patients per year and have done so efficiently and without sacrifice to quality patient care. With the new ED, we will finally be matching the best ED staff in Alabama with the best ED facility in Alabama. It’s because of that staff that we have had the kind of success that allows us to make such an improvement.”
Springhill Medical Center is a 263-bed acute care hospital accredited by TJC. Since 1975, Springhill has grown and expanded its services in the southwest Alabama market while maintaining more nurses to each patient for a personal approach. The medical center provides full surgical capabilities including open-heart and robotic surgery, as well as complete diagnostic capabilities. Today, SMC includes the hospital, a unique and comprehensive heart center, senior residence, sleep medicine center, cancer center, athletic club, orthopaedic surgery center, wound care and hyperbaric center, and an emergency department staffed by all board-certified emergency medicine physicians.Original Article