Hospital celebrates new wing
Sonoma Valley Hospital will unveil its $46 million construction project with a New Wing Open House & Celebration on Saturday, November 16. Festivities include live music, activities for children, a street party barbecue and tours of the new structure, which houses a new emergency room and surgery center.
The new 12,243-square foot wing was built on the west side of the hospital in what had been a parking lot. The Marcia and Gary Nelson Family Emergency Care Center occupies the first floor, and is three times larger than the previous facility.
When the new E.R. becomes fully functional next month, it will increase privacy for the 10,000 patients that use the facility annually, according to CEO Kelly Mather, and will reduce waiting time to 10 minutes or less 90 percent of the time.
The new Surgery Center, on the new wing’s second floor, “provides state-of-the-art operating rooms that will better accommodate today’s highly complex surgical equipment and larger operating teams,” Mather said. “It also will meet the needs of the surgical specialists we now have in Sonoma.”
Events get going at 10 a.m. when refreshments will be served in the garden, and visitors can tour the new wing. From noon to 12:30 p.m., a barbecue lunch will be served outside in street party setting (Fourth Street West will be closed between Andrieux and Bettencourt), while BackTrax plays an array of classic rock songs.
At 2:30 p.m., there will be a brief introduction from hospital administrators and speeches by local politicians, including Rep. Mike Thompson, First District Supervisor Susan Gorin and Mayor Ken Brown. Cookies and sweets will be served in the afternoon, and the event wraps up at 4 p.m.
In the event of inclement weather, tents will be set up in front of the hospital.
The celebration is a way of expressing appreciation to the community and showing off the state-of-the art improvements, Mather said. “Our new hospital is a place of healing, our physicians have the latest technology, and our staff is deeply committed to best practices and compassionate, high quality patient care.”
