ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Strong Memorial Hospital held a beam-raising celebration Monday to mark the halfway point of the first phase of an expansion that will triple the size of the emergency department and add more than 100 new beds.
It’s been an intricate dance of sorts for months between ambulances continuing to bring patients to the existing emergency room and construction vehicles and workers building the expansion right next door. “Our community is unique in that the number of hospital beds and the number of hospitals has shrunk enormously over the past 20 years and we have fewer beds per thousand than many other communities across New York State and across the country,” says Kathy Parrinello, the CEO of Strong.
Strong is hoping its $650 million expansion will help alleviate the capacity issues. The final beam was placed atop phase 1 Monday and now the work moves inside…