After more than a decade, Bethesda Healthcare System recently marked the official groundbreaking of Bethesda West Hospital.
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(l-r) Fred B. Devitt, Jr., Esq.; Jeffrey Pheterson; William F. Koch, Jr.; Stormet C. Norem; Thomas A. Smith; Commissioner Burt Aaronson; Special Assistant to Governor Crist, Diego Echeverri; William M. Plum; State Representative Maria Lorts Sachs; George T. Elmore; Bethesda President and CEO Robert B. Hill; Dr. Fred W. Love; Dr. Ralph B. Breslaw; and State Representative Kevin Rader. |
Bethesda West Hospital will be an 80-bed – all private room – community hospital that provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient medical services, with state-of-the-art technology that incorporates environmentally sound practices to support superior patient care.
Special features of Bethesda West Hospital include a completely electronic medical records system that enables physicians receive test results for their patients in real time via their smart phones or office computers and enables the hospital to be “paper lite.” It will also ensure that patients receive optimal care so that they can recover in a timely manner.
As an additional benefit, patients can order their meals via room service. Patients will be able to order from a prescribed menu when they are ready to eat, adding to the hotel-like atmosphere. The hospital will also have three separate elevator banks: one designated for patients; one designated for visitors and a third for supplies and equipment, helping to ensure that patients are more comfortable as they travel through the hospital.
Construction for Bethesda West Hospital officially begins June 1, 2010. The project is expected to take 30 months to complete and is expected to bring in hundreds of construction jobs over the course of the project. During this time, a 45,000 sq. ft. medical office building will also be built on the 58-acre site.
