Bristol Hospital has a lot planned for 2019, but the most notable is the long-anticipated opening of its downtown building — the first sign of life in Centre Square in years.
“It’s really going to be the year the medical care center opens,” said Christopher Boyle, spokesman for the hospital.
“It’s been a long time coming.” Thanks, in part, to the lack of major winter storms thus far, construction has been moving at a “rapid pace,” Boyle said. “Construction has really been coming along,” he continued. “Our plan right now is to tentatively open in the late spring.”
The Bristol Hospital Medical Care Center will take on the hospital’s services for cardiology, orthopedics, endocrinology, rheumatology, neurology and urology. It will also offer laboratory services and occupational and physical therapy services.
The three-story, 60,000-square-foot new facility is expected to employ more than 90 people. But beyond just the convenience of offering all these services under one roof, hospital officials have continually remarked about the excitement the new building has generated in the community. Bristol has struggled for years to figure out what to do with the land that used to be home to a mall.
“All along we have said we see this building serving as a springboard for future development on the former downtown mall site,” Bristol Hospital President and CEO Kurt Barwis said in the summer, during a ceremony to celebrate the last beam of the building’s steel structure being put into place.
“If the past is any indication of the future, we do have space, ultimately, to construct another building next to it sometime,” Barwis continued. “I’m really hopeful and excited that we can get to that point in a very short term.”
In 2019, Bristol Hospital officials will also keep a close eye on the state budget and what impact it will have on its operations. The hospital and its multi-specialty group in fiscal year 2017 posted a $6.1 million loss.
The numbers for fiscal year 2018 are still being finalized and are expected to be released at the hospital’s annual meeting in April.
“We’re anticipating a better year,” Boyle said of the unfinished 2018 finances. Speaking on the 2017 loss, Boyle said, “A good portion of that was to the (state’s) hospital tax and the cost of starting up some new practices, including urology, primary physician care and a new cancer doctor.”
“Those practices are doing well,” Boyle said. “They’ve really been yielding some positive results.”
“Without giving away our playbook, we’re looking to recruit some new physicians in 2019, especially primary care physicians. We need more primary care physicians in this area.” While the hospital doesn’t have an unlimited amount of funds, Boyle said officials have never been afraid to take losses when investing in services to fill the community’s needs. For example, in fiscal year 2018, the hospital hired Dr. Kateryna Kurko, a second neurologist, and Dr. Kai Hammerich, a robotic urologist.
“We’re committed to making these investments,” Boyle said. “We’re always looking to add new subspecialties to meet the needs of the community.”
Another major project that Bristol Hospital will be starting in 2019 is the renovation and expansion of its Emergency Center.
The Bristol Hospital Development Foundation launched a capital fundraising campaign last year for the project, and will continue those efforts in 2019 and beyond. Additionally, all the proceeds from the hospital’s three major fundraising events are benefiting the Emergency Center project. The project will be carried out in three phases, the first of which is scheduled to start later this year. This will include constructing a new 10-bed behavioral unit inside the Emergency Center.
The idea for the new unit came from the hospital’s community health needs assessment, which looks to identify community needs and fill them. The assessment showed that behavioral health and substance abuse was the top health issue that residents and community leaders feel need to be addressed in the greater Bristol area.
The other phases of the project include adding additional bed spaces and a new patient entrance and registration area.