Ukiah hospital gets new ER

Ukiah Valley Medical Center is moving closer to getting a new emergency room.

Demolition of an old building that will be the new emergency department started July 27. The 68-bed hospital, operated by Roseville-based Adventist Health, is expanding its emergency services from 12 current beds to 19 private beds, and eight private rooms for intensive care. That includes two trauma bays and a rooftop helipad that will help the facility’s efforts to advance its trauma designation from level 4 to level 3.

The project is part of the $41 million expansion started in 2013 and scheduled to be completed in 2016. The emergency department opened in 1978 and initially saw 8,000 patients a year. Today, the unit sees about 25,000 patients per year, a number that officials anticipate will increase.

The expansion and upgrade will add 19,000 square feet, including improvements to the six-bed intensive care unit. which will keep the same number of beds but will be converted to private rooms to accommodate family members. The project was designed by Jennings Ackerley Architecture and Design of San Francisco. The general contractor is Herrero Builders of San Francisco, working with Wipf Construction of Ukiah.