Amador County – Taking steps to expand its emergency room and circulation of its buildings in general, Sutter Amador Hospital accepted a gift of $9,000 last week in donation from ACES Waste Service.

Sutter Amador Hospital CEO Anne Platte, Emergency Room Director Dr. Paul Beatty, and Supervisor Richard Forster, a member of the Sutter Amador Hospital Foundation Board of Directors gathered outside the Emergency Room entrance to the Jackson hospital Friday, Jan. 13, to accept a ceremonial check form ACES Waste Service Vice President Paul Molinelli Junior. The check will go toward a current $7.3 million expansion project slated to be complete at the end of the year.

Molinelli said it was ACES’s duty to give back to the community, after 35 years of operating in Amador County. Molinelli said “we are very conscious as a company” and it is “very important to give back” to the community, through giving to Sutter Amador Hospital. He said his family has been to the emergency room many times and received excellent care.

Forster said he has visited here many times with family members, and “sometimes we’ve felt like we lived here.”

Platt said the $9,000 donation from ACES will go toward the expansion project of the Emergency Department, so Amador County residents have better, more technologically proficient lifesaving care.

Hospital officials said most emergency departments in America are facing increased demand for services. In Amador County, the increase is fueled by an aging population, a growing number of underinsured and uninsured patients and a lack of alternatives for after-hours medical care.

The expansion will double the size of the Sutter Amador Hospital Emergency Department, improving the speed, safety, and overall level of care provided. Officials said it will reduce patient wait times by nearly doubling the emergency room from 5,600 to 9,115 square feet. It will increase the number of rooms from 6 to 13, including 2 major treatment rooms, 8 treatment rooms, and 3 triage/treatment rooms.

The expansion will increase comfort, speed, safety and privacy for customers, and improve customer confidentiality during registration: “When patients check in, they will give just their name. They will receive wristbands and will be registered and evaluated in private triage rooms and either treated immediately or moved to a private emergency treatment room.”

The expansion will improve physician and staff satisfaction and boost community confidence. Hospital officials said “our specially trained staff provides state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment services; all we need now is a little more space. Working in a more appropriately sized facility will improve satisfaction and the quality of care provided.”

Once completed, officials said the “community can be even more confident that high-quality health care services are immediately available at Sutter Amador Hospital.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.