St. John's opens Emergency Trauma and Imaging Centers
Jan. 24, 2005
St. John's hosted a grand opening celebration for its new Emergency Trauma Center and Imaging Center at 10 a.m. Jan. 21. The 216,000 square-foot facility is located on the corner of Sunshine and National in Springfield.

The morning's activities included a ribbon cutting, blessing by Bishop John Leibrecht and remarks from St. John's President/CEO Jay Eckersley and Board Chairman Donald Wantuck, M.D.

The public was invited to tour the facility at a Community-Wide Open House 10 a.m. -  5 p.m. Jan. 22.

The facility includes a new 150,000-square-foot Emergency Trauma Center on the first floor and a new Outpatient Diagnostic Center with state-of-the-art imaging capabilities on the second floor.

St. John's has the second-highest number of trauma admissions in the state - nearly 2000 in 2004. It is the region's only Level I adult and pediatric trauma center, capable of the most complicated care. Emergency Trauma Centers are designated Level I, II or III, through a voluntary certification program.

"As the population in the Ozarks has grown, so has the demand on our emergency department," said Jon Swope, COO St. John's Hospital. "We have about 70,000 patient visits each year, nearly double the number we saw when the current emergency trauma center opened in 1978. The new facility is designed to more efficiently deliver care and to decrease wait times for our patients."

St. John's Hospital opened in 1952 with a three-room emergency department, then located at the hospital's southwest corner. When it moved to the building's southeast corner, it was expanded to 16 medical and critical care rooms. More were eventually added to bring the total to 26 last year.

Enhancements to imaging capabilities include the first installed PET/CT scanner in the area, two MRI scanners, two CT scanners an five ultrasound rooms.

For media information, contact Cora Scott at 417-820-2426 or 417-894-7690