BEND, OR -- St. Charles Bend’s new Critical Care patient tower, with larger rooms and up-to-date technology, opened for public tours Wednesday evening. The $66 million project expands the hospital's Intensive Care Unit capacity to 24 beds, with 28 more in a Progressive Care Unit upstairs. 

 

Many of the features in the new building were designed by the caregivers who will work there. Sarah is a Registered Nurse. During the tour she demonstrated how cabinets for each room can be stocked from the hallway, without disturbing patients and their families, "There's a company in Redmond that actually designed them for us. There's no other place in the country that has them." She explained, "These [shelves] actually pull out, so we'll have two trays in here; nobody has to go in the room."

There's a new area for Dialysis, which will allow patients to get care without having to move to another floor, and exercise spaces where patients can receive strength training. Danny was impressed with that continuous care; patients keep their same rooms and staff. He believes the new amenities will make their stays more comfortable, "Everything looks well-planned, thought out, the technology looks good." He told KBND News, "The status screen for the patients, that's really cool. It's right there, really easy to read and make out. It looks good."

 

Sisters Carol and Priscilla took the tour, as well. They told KBND News, "If I had to come to an ICU, I would love to come here. But, hopefully, I won't have to. It's just state of the art It's just amazing." They liked the fact that the larger, brighter rooms are more convenient for families of patients, "There's so many windows and glass doors, that it just opens it up and there's so much more visibility for the staff to take care of the patients, and the couch, for the guest, and then it actually turns into a bed, I mean, I think that's wonderful."

 

The Critical Care patient tower opens for patients May 19.

 

Photos: (Top) New ICU rooms feature more space and natural light than the current facility.

(Upper right) Caregivers enter patient updates in alcoves that feature windows into rooms, for continual observation.