Local hospital opens new wing, adds 11-room special care unit
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The following is a news release from Portneuf Medical Center.
POCATELLO – Portneuf Medical Center is opening a renovated wing and adding an 11-bed special care unit to support the increased need for specialized inpatient care in the region.
The 11-room unit is new for PMC. It is a step between a medical/surgical unit and the intensive care unit. With state-of-the-art cardiac monitoring and observation, the SCU is thoughtfully designed to meet the unique and special needs of PMC’s cardiac, orthopedic, surgical, respiratory and advanced care patients.
“This unit is an important piece of our growth strategy. It adds more inpatient capacity in the hospital and for the region,” said PMC CEO Jordan Herget. “Nurses and staff are trained to handle patients with the most challenging medical problems. As a result, more patients in need of care can stay close to home.”
Investing just under $3 million, the wing was repurposed, custom-designed, and equipped to provide exceptional patient care for patients who need a higher level of monitoring and the specialized skills of this care team. This new area complements the hospital’s cardiac and intensive care services, which have been housed on the third floor since the hospital opened in 2011.
“PMC has more need than ever for acute care rooms,” said Herget. “The hospital has seen a steady increase in trauma transfers and admissions, having added a traumatologist, a surgeon specially trained to treat trauma patients, last July. Additionally, as needs are identified in the community, we add physicians to our medical group. Most recently, we added three cardiologists and this new unit gives us more capacity to care for heart patients.”
As a regional referral hospital, Portneuf partners with critical access hospitals to extend advanced healthcare services to surrounding communities by providing for trauma, cardiac, cancer, surgical, orthopedic, neonatal and critically ill patients throughout southeast Idaho and western Wyoming.
The hospital team is dedicated to providing patients with the compassion and respect they deserve. To learn more about PMC services, visit the website.