Business Today

POPLAR BLUFF -- Three Rivers Healthcare has opened a new intensive care unit for the treatment of critically ill cardiac, medical and surgical patients. It is in a 5,096-square-foot addition built behind the new Women's Health Center.

Tim Brady, president and chief executive officer, said the new unit has 12 beds, an increase of three over the former unit. Each of the unit's 12 private rooms is equipped with a sliding glass wall that serves as an entrance, adjusting to accommodate stretchers or single visitor passage. Brady said this feature ensures privacy and decreases noisy intrusions, as well as provides for visual monitoring of the patient.

A central monitor at the nurses station operates 24 hours a day, providing the heart rate and rhythm of each intensive care patient. The station is staffed with a monitor technician who views the screens and prints rhythm strips of each patient's cardiac activity.

The new unit has many patient-friendly features including data ports for telephone and television activities as allowed by the patient's physician. The waiting room features a telephone, television and comfortable seating in a private area with adjoining restroom facilities.

Construction has begun on the expansion/renovation project of the Emergency Department.