![]() ![]() The design there features a large circle with glass-doored rooms on the outside of it. “It actually saves money by not having to pay for their care later, untreated,” Jordan said.Īt Maryvale, the new design features include a retrofitted Intensive Care Unit that now is built for patients who need longer, supervised care. One pregnant mother was found to be positive for HIV and the emergency team helped treat the mom and baby so the baby was born HIV negative - which may not have happened if the mom’s HIV status hadn’t been discovered at the Maricopa Medical Center. Jordan says all admitted patients now get tested for HIV unless they aren’t able to consent. Sometimes, patients will keep returning to emergency rooms with persisting problems. “This area gets a lot of behavioral health patients or patients we need to keep a closer eye on.” “They don’t want to wait or they’ve decided they’ve waited long enough, then they can walk out the door, so our strategy here is to put them in an internal waiting room,” Jordan said. The need for more behavioral health services is also growing with the population. Jordan said they’ve moved toward internal waiting rooms so patients don’t leave before treatment. The ER continues to evolve with new research and technology. Heather Jordan directs the nursing for emergency services at the Maricopa Medical Center. “We have an older department, much like Maryvale started with, but we obviously haven’t had the renovations that have been done at Maryvale, so we kind of have a more compartmentalized department,” she said. Heather Jordan directs the nursing for emergency services. “I have a 7-mile commute instead of a 23-mile commute.”Īt the Maricopa Medical Center where Prado used to work, the emergency department feels smaller in size, though it sees more patients yearly. Plus, the expanding footprint of MIHS means a shorter commute for her. “I think it’s neat we were able to utilize existing space and kind of work them in for the needs we have and the needs of the patients,” she said. Both hospitals were built more than 40 years ago. Others, like medical imaging manager Andrea Prado, used to work at Maricopa Medical Center downtown at Roosevelt and 24th streets. “That was very close to my heart because you are looking at people who had to go all the way over to the freeway, and the hospitals in that area, or go all the way downtown,” she said.Ībout a dozen of the nurses and technicians at Maryvale now worked there before and some live in the community, too. Wilcox said reopening the emergency department on the west side of Phoenix was a top priority. Wilcox, Samaritan is closer, we have to take you there because you’re bleeding.' And I was still upset, and the doctor who saw me immediately said, ‘Don’t worry, I was trained at county,’ and I said … OK. And when she was shot in 1997 by a man upset over how she voted as supervisor, she said she asked to be taken to the county hospital for treatment. She worked there when it first opened in the 1970s. Wilcox has close ties with the county hospital. “And we bought it, and we got a damn good price for it,” she said. The Maryvale hospital wasn’t in the original bond money plan, but she said it was too good an opportunity to miss. Mary Rose Wilcox, former county supervisor and current restaurant owner, represents Maryvale and Phoenix. MIHS has a five-person elected board to oversee it. One floor is open now and already has patients staying there. The rest of the Maryvale campus is still in the process of being converted to almost 100 more behavioral health beds. There’s also a live interpreter at the hospital around the clock to help Spanish-speaking patients. “We did want to make sure we embraced that need. “About 30 percent of their total volume for the year was pediatric patients,” Moodey said. The new ER was built to accommodate the youngest patients. Maryvale has the largest and youngest population of any village in Phoenix. “So they’re just really looking to have a community center to come and seek medical care when they need it.” “The community uses the ER a lot to access basic medical care just because of a lack of resources,” Moodey said. It was estimated 40,000 people came through the hospital when it was still open, averaging out to more than 100 each day. MIHS worked quickly to reopen the emergency department this April because of such a high demand in the Maryvale community. She’s still getting used to the redesigned layout, badging open doors as she leads a tour. Michael Murphy/Maricopa Integrated Health System Kate Moodey is the Maryvale emergency department nursing manager. ![]()
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