Southeast Hospital plans $16 million project

Business Today

A little privacy -- that's what a $16 million expansion project at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau is intended to provide patients.

The project, which was announced May 30, calls for the construction of two new floors and the renovation of five existing units that will increase the number of private rooms from 39 to 107.

Hospital administrator Jim Wente said, "We knew from talking to patients and listening to physicians and employees that our patients wanted more privacy and really wanted private rooms."

Construction is scheduled to begin in July to build the floors that will sit atop the Harrison Annex. The new floors will be for medical and surgical patients and are expected to be ready by summer 2004, Wente said.

According to Wente, a study found that it would be impractical to add private rooms without expanding the existing facility.

He said the number of patients staying at the hospital has been very high -- the range of occupancy is 150-200 patients a day.

The president of Southeast's medical staff, Dr. Gordon Haycraft, said little privacy is offered by rooms where only a curtain separates patients.

"There's no privacy in that situation," he said. "You wouldn't want me taking your medical history while someone on the other side of the curtain is listening to every word. I know I wouldn't."

The two new floors, Harrison 4 and Harrison 5, will house 46 new patient rooms, 34 of which will be private. Remodeling of existing patient areas will progress after bed space becomes available in the new area.

Wente said patient care areas slated for a space expansion are surgical progressive care, medical progressive care, joint replacement center/orthopedics surgical, neurology and oncology.

In summer 2005, when the total project is complete, Southeast will have 259 beds, down from its 271 beds. But because the hospital's average number of patients is usually below that, Wente said running out of bed space is not a concern. He said bed capacity should be sufficient for several years.

The project will be financed through the sale of 30-year tax-exempt revenue bonds, Wente said. The general contractor for the project is Kiefner Brothers Inc. of Cape Girardeau.

Wente said this project is the 13th major addition in the hospital's 75-year-history. In recent years, some of the things Southeast has done include constructing a new main lobby, opening the Joint Replacement Center, constructing the MRImaging Center in the Regional Cancer Center, building a four-story clinical services addition and a redesign of the obstetrics and gynecology center.