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By Karen Gentry | MiBiz
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EAST GRAND RAPIDS — The public got a chance to see for themselves the $98-million renovation and expansion of Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital in an open house in late September.

Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital President Jim Wilson said the centerpiece of the completed reinvestment is the four-story patient care addition. The hospital now includes 284 all-private rooms in a community teaching environment. The new addition includes 132 private rooms, eight new operating rooms and a new intensive care unit of 22 beds.
“Overwhelmingly, the dollars we put into reinvestment have focused almost exclusively on patient care,” Wilson told MiBiz.

Progressive AE designed the project, which was built by The Christman Co.

Wilson said all design work focused on reducing costs, improving clinical outcomes and establishing a culture of safety. The renovation eliminates the semi-private rooms in keeping with a national trend of private rooms. Research has shown that private rooms offer a safer environment and speed up the healing process for patients.

With the new addition and renovation of Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital in East Grand Rapids, there are now all-private rooms with flat screen televisions and automated patient lifts. PHOTO COURTESY OF SPECTRUM  HEALTH

The new rooms now include flat-screen televisions, a sleeping sofa for family members, and automated patient lifts to cut down employee injuries and for greater patient safety. Wilson said the reinvestment includes upgrades to all of the hospital’s x-ray/imaging capabilities and a three-phase renovation of the emergency room. Blodgett Hospital has 14 operating rooms and four others for future growth.

Kathy Van Rhee, director of Blodgett Hospital administration and medical surgical nursing, said the staff is very excited about the renovation and expansion. She said the private rooms offer awesome views from the windows, and the operating rooms are much larger, making it easier for physicians and technicians to do their work. The recovery room has also been expanded.

Van Rhee said patients at Blodgett for outpatient procedures will appreciate the renovation because all outpatient services now take place on the second floor whereas before patients had to travel between floors for care.

East Grand Rapids City Manager Brian Donovan said the $98 million reinvestment in Blodgett Hospital shows that Blodgett Hospital will be in East Grand Rapids for 100 more years. Blodgett is an important employment center for East Grand Rapids and the whole region.

Donovan said city officials were concerned about Blodgett’s possible move to the East Beltline before the hospital merged with Butterworth Hospital to form Spectrum Health.
“This expansion confirms that they’re going to be here and it’s something the whole community appreciates,” Donovan told MiBiz.

The expansion and renovation was not without its challenges because of the congested site.

Donovan said an old building was torn down to make way for the new building, some zoning changes were needed and landscaping was important to blend into the neighborhood.

“Blodgett officials were very good at getting the neighbors together. We were able to work through all that in a very timely fashion,” Donovan said.

Areas of expertise
Finally ready to schedule a total knee replacement or that bariatric, spine or gastrointestinal surgery? Have some special needs for care after a stroke? Chances are if your provider is Spectrum Health, you’ll be receiving treatment at Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital.

Although still a community hospital in a residential neighborhood, Spectrum Health has developed some clinical areas of excellence. Some of these are located at the Blodgett campus and some in downtown Grand Rapids at the Butterworth campus, according to Wilson.

Some of the areas of expertise fit in nicely at Blodgett. Wilson said Spectrum Health does the sixth largest volume of total knee replacements in the country, and about 85 percent of those knee replacements are done at Blodgett Hospital. He also noted that most of the spine surgery is done at Blodgett Hospital. Blodgett also does the largest amount of hospital-based surgical weight loss surgery in Michigan and is one of the state’s leading providers for diagnosis and treatment for digestive disorders. Blodgett is also an advanced certified primary stroke center and its new Osteoporosis Center focuses on the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Many people also don’t realize that Blodgett Hospital still has an active, viable emergency room that receives about 37,000 visits per year, Wilson said. Blodgett Hospital has a greater percentage of surgical patients compared to most hospitals in the country — 57 percent of patients come for surgery compared to 43 percent at other hospitals. Blodgett’s 36-bed post-anesthesia care unit is also one of the largest in the nation.

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TAGS:

• brian donovan
• economic development
• grand rapids
• healthcare
• jim wilson
• kathy van rhee
• progressive ae
• spectrum health blodgett hospital
• the christman company