Cape Fear Valley Medical Center Broadens Its Reach
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To simply say there are big changes under way for Cape Fear Valley Health System might be the understatement of the decade.
Not only is a major construction project at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center adding a new six-story medical tower‚ emergency department and 500-space parking deck‚ there are also a new affiliation with the famed Cleveland Clinic and a systemic emphasis on process improvement.
As the region’s population base increases‚ so does the need for capacity and heightened technology to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction‚ hospital officials say.
“The amount of patients we’re serving has grown. They are coming from the region … not just Cumberland County‚” says Kenneth Edge‚ chairman of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners and a member of the health system’s Board of Trustees. “Through this expansion‚ we hope we will become even more of a regional referral center for southeast North Carolina.”
In planning stages for more than five years‚ the tower and parking-deck project represents a $150 million investment and is scheduled to open in October 2008. A second phase is on the books for 2012‚ says Joyce Korzen‚ interim CEO for Cape Fear Valley Health System.
A major component of the current project is a new emergency department‚ designed to update existing facilities that were built to accommodate 36‚000 patients per year. “We’re experiencing close to 100‚000 now‚” Korzen adds.
The new Valley Pavilion Tower will increase the number of emergency beds from 57 to 76 and divides services into four tracks to expedite patient care. The tower also will contain inpatient imaging services and a new Heart and Vascular Center with procedural labs and observation beds.
Another section of the tower will provide 48 new patient beds‚ with one floor dedicated to cardiac ICU and step-down units and the other for orthopedic surgical care and a women’s unit.
In addition to expanding capacity‚ the new tower allows the hospital to maximize efficiency by consolidating inpatient services to the south side of the campus. Once the tower is completed‚ the north end will be developed as an outpatient mall.
Along with physical additions to the campus‚ improvements are being made in the health system’s processes.
“We’re of the belief that no matter how big you build it‚ it will never be big enough‚” Korzen says‚ adding that technology and process improvements are being adopted to increase efficiency and quality.
“We’re putting in new processes that really focus on the way we’ve always done things and overlaying them with information technology‚ so we’re computerizing a lot of tasks so that we can sustain the process improvements.”
All of the improvements are aimed toward a single target: better patient care.
“The people are the most important thing‚ but you have to have a certain amount of space and equipment so [medical caregivers] can do the good job they’re meant to do‚” says Dr. James C. Hunter‚ chief medical officer for the health system.
The efforts are earning national attention. In 2007‚ Healthgrades‚ an independent health-care rating company‚ gave Cape Fear Valley Health System its Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence and its Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient Safety. Only 86 hospitals across the country won both awards‚ each of which puts the system in the top 5 percent of American hospitals for quality and safety‚ Hunter says.
The affiliation with the world famous Cleveland Clinic will add yet another facet to the hospital’s reputation for quality.
“It brings to this region of North Carolina access to the protocols and procedures they use to get their terrific outcomes‚” Hunter says.
Story by Cindy Sanders
Photo by Ian Curcio
