Historical November 1991 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
A benefit party, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an open house will mark the completion of St. Louis Regional Medical Center’s new emergency care center at the end of November. Invited guests will get a special benefit preview of the new ER from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Nov. 24.
The event will feature music by Herb Drury and Jerry Cherry and hors d’oeuvres from eight West End restaurants.
The benefit is sponsored by the Friends of Regional Medical Center, an organization that raises money for Regional’s hospital and ambulatory care centers. Anyone who would like an invitation should call 879-6233.
The organizing committee for the event consists of Edward Buschmiller, M.D., Jane Geer, Sarah S. Kissel, Bintha Lewis, Patricia P. McCoy, Lee Redel, Chris Ronnau, M.D., V. Judi Sams, Mary Schreiber, Cristina Staisch, Michelle Swarmer and Bruce B. Yampolsky. Participating restaurants are Redel’s, Dressel’s Pub, Cafe Balaban, Culpeppers, St. Louis Bread Company, Linden Terrace Cafe, Bar Italia and Duff’s. “We are hoping that our friends and neighbors in the West End of St. Louis will join us for this special preview of our new E.R.,” said Ms. Swarmer, development manager for Regional. “We feel that we are a neighborhood institution. “We are not asking guests at the Sunday reception for admission fees, but we do hope they will become Friends of Regional. Friends’ contributions help Regional replace aging equipment or initiate health programs that our present resources have not been able to cover!” The public is invited to the ribboncutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Tuesday, November 26. and to the open house immediately after. Mayor Vincent Schoemehl and County Executive Bun Westfall are scheduled to speak briefly before the official opening of the emergency room doors at the west end of the hospital. 5535 Delmar Blvd.
The Sumner High School band will play from 10:30 to 11 a.m. Those attending the observance will be invited to look around the spacious new facility.
The new emergency room will nearly double the space now available for emergency care at Regional, from 12,627 to 21,403 square feet.
The entire new section of the hospital measures 30,053 square feet.
The nurses’ station, now a tiny, crowded area off Enright Avenue, makes up the 95-foot-long core of the new E.R.
It affords a direct view of the pair of two-bed trauma bays and the 17 patient treatment rooms.
The new E.R. also has a nine-bed area for patients who need to be kept under observation. Such patients are now parked on stretchers in a corridor near the nurses’ station.
Also in the new emergency center are a tub and shower room, a psychiatric holding room, two X-ray rooms, a cast room, rape crisis room, a small laboratory, a staff lounge and locker area, and office, storage and utility rooms.
The hospital’s admissions department and pharmacy also are getting new homes in the E.R. area, which has been added onto the west end of the hospital’s main building running. Because most of the hospital’s admissions come in through the emergency room, and because most E.R. patients are given a prescription before they leave, it is convenient for both departments to be close to the emergency care center.
A penthouse holds mechanical systems. Ambulances will enter the emergency area from the north side of Delmar Boulevard. Both ambulance and pedestrian entrances are under a large canopy on the west end of the hospital building.
The new emergency facility is decorated with seafoam shades of blue-green accenting the basic colors of tan, beige and pink, presenting a calm, fresh appearance.
The color scheme is carried over into floor patterns which serve to orient users of the space.
The Wischmeyer Architects designed the new Regional emergency care center. C. Rallo and Co. was the prime contractor.
The project, including equipment and the eventual renovation of the old emergency room and pharmacy for other uses, will cost $5.4 million, equally financed by St. Louis and St. Louis County. St. Louis Regional Health Care Corporation, a private, not-for-profit corporation, operates Regional Medical Center. a general hospital licensed for 304 beds, and its attached specialty clinics. Under contracts with the city and county, it provides care for residents who cannot pay for all or part of their medical treatment.
It also operates four primary care centers in the city.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, November 1991.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Phrase hospital main building running appears in original; not interpreted into an unprinted architectural detail.
Original source: SD_Times1991_11.pdf, printed page(s) 1, 8; PDF page(s) 1, 8.
