Saint Agnes Medical Center launches fundraising campaign to expand emergency department

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Saint Agnes Medical Center is looking to upgrade its exigency department.

"It'll beryllium implicit 40,000 quadrate feet, which is bigger than our existent Emergency Department and it'll beryllium designed successful a mode that expands our section arsenic a whole," Chief Development Officer Sara Fraunenheim said.

The exigency section has been remodeled respective times but Frauenheim says enlargement is what's needed present to amended assistance radical successful request of acute care.

"We're looking astatine backstage spaces, we're looking astatine vertical beds. When our patients travel in, they travel successful astatine antithetic levels of acuity," Frauenheim said. "We privation to marque definite we're capable to conscionable each patient, astatine each level."

The infirmary volition soon motorboat its Emergency Department campaign, which volition assistance rise funds for the caller installation plan.

Frauenheim says it's a task that's been successful the works for rather immoderate time.

"We person precocious been funded by Trinity Health, our partner, astatine $150 million. $20 cardinal of that is simply a committedness that we're making to spouse with the assemblage to rise funds to enactment the project," Frauenheim said.

The existent exigency section was built successful the aboriginal 2000s. It's long, constrictive and tin lone spot up to 50,000 patients a year.

With much and much patients coming successful for treatment, the ED has outgrown its existent size.

"We are broaching 90,000 visits a twelvemonth and growing. So the department, not lone is the abstraction not functional arsenic a linear structure, but besides it's not gathering the needs arsenic acold arsenic the fig of visits we're seeing annually," Frauenheim said.

The infirmary plans to interruption crushed connected the task successful 2026, with the extremity of opening successful 2029.

Anyone who wants to donate to the fundraising run tin click here.

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