Dr. Robert Summerer posted on Madison
Community Hospital's timeline.
8:22am.
A phenomenal thing is happening in Madison this weekend: an entire hospital is moving from one building to another across town. Yes, it's a small hospital, in a small town, but this is an amazing event & a huge undertaking!
Patient care is being maintained in the old facility to the very end. Meanwhile, everything is gradually being shifted over to the new building - supplies, paper records, billing slips, pathology reports, medications, huge pieces of equipment, linens, instruments, computers, artwork, paper clips & bandages. Just think of the many departments - lab, X-ray, business office, records, ER, physical therapy, etc. All of the OR instruments have to be repackaged & resterilized in the new place. Our laparoscopic equipment was transported today so that it could be reconfigured with the new integration system in the new OR. We'll have new sterilizers, but one very large one had to be uninstalled & reinstalled in the new place.
Not only is the hospital moving, but 3 physician clinics are moving & combining physically into one. Think of the supplies & equipment needed to run a multi specialty clinic with 3 procedure rooms! I was sorting through my desk this evening & the IT guys showed up to gather & transport my computer. I had just completed my dictations for the afternoon. All our records are electronic, so I use the computer to document. They were going to be setting it up in my new office, & it's a Friday night! Someone else already loaded my books & bookcase for me. This move has had to be orchestrated so carefully!
Nobody I know has ever walked through such an event. There is joy, yet there are tears as we recognize an end to an era. There are staff that have worked their entire careers in the old building. They've birthed their children there & said good bye to friends & family members, coworkers & beloved patients. We've laughed. We've grumbled. We've prayed. We've come together as a team to save lives & manage disasters. We've built our careers in the old building.
And now it's time to embark on the next adventure! We will need to accommodate new processes into our routines; work with improved equipment & space. We will find our coworkers in new locations. It will be fantastic to see their familiar faces in all the new. We're going to be ready to transfer our inpatients on Sunday afternoon & see people in the new ER that night. We'll see clinic patients on Monday & begin scheduled surgery on Tuesday. What an awesome transformation!
