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Construction Update
Memorial Health System of East Texas Announces
New $30 Million Cardiovascular and Stroke Center
Memorial Health System of East Texas recently
announced plans to break ground on a new 30
million dollar expansion project. This Spring
construction will begin in Lufkin on the
Cardiovascular and Stroke Center of East Texas.
The new four-story facility will be located next
to the hospital’s emergency room. Construction
is expected to be completed in Fall 2009.
 The
new tower is designed to compliment the existing
campus buildings, while featuring many modern
concepts, like matching brick and Stucco-like
finishes, bands of colored stone, and modern
window walls that resemble the exterior of the
Medical Arts Pavilion. The new building will
feature the latest in health care design and it
will utilize a “green building” concept and
“evidence-based” planning. The project also
includes a new 54-space parking area off of
Ellis Street.
The new tower will be 106,000 square feet and it
will house a 19 bed Emergency Department (ER) on
its first floor. The expanded ER will have 2
triage rooms, 2 major trauma rooms, and 4
designated psychiatric rooms. Sharing space on
the first floor will be the Central Sterile
Processing area. The second floor will be home
to new cardiac catheterization labs and
dedicated surgical suites. The hospital’s
Intensive Care Unit will move to the third floor
of the new tower and it will have 24 beds
available, which doubles its current size. A 26
bed Step Down Unit and a Progressive Care area
will be located on the fourth floor and the roof
will accommodate a new helipad for air ambulance
service.
As part of the construction, the current
Emergency Room entrance will be closed. Patients
and guests will be directed toward the back
entrance of the hospital. Signs will be posted
and hospital personnel will be available to help
escort patients
Construction Begins
Parking has become a premium at Memorial Medical
Center—Lufkin as work crews prepare for the
construction of the new Cardiovascular and Stroke
Center of East Texas. Currently, a portion of the
back parking lot has closed to make room for the
construction area, which will house equipment and
materials needed to build the new four-story tower.
New
Parking Area/Shuttle Service Introduced
 In
the meantime, a new parking lot has opened behind
the hospital on Ellis Street. This parking area is
open to the public. Additionally, a new shuttle
service has been introduced by the hospital’s
Volunteer Auxiliary. Thanks to a generous donation
from the volunteers, a seven passenger golf cart now
is available to those who want to park and ride. The
shuttle is manned by employees and volunteers on a
rotating schedule Monday thru Friday, 6 am to 6 pm.
The shuttle runs from the parking lots to the Arthur
Temple Sr. Regional Cancer Center and the main
entrance of the hospital.
Next Steps
The next phase of construction will affect the
entrances to the Emergency Department. Toward the
end of April, the ambulance and walk-in entrances of
the Emergency Department will close and traffic will
be rerouted. The new tower is being built directly
beside the Emergency Department; therefore, this
construction area will be fenced and closed to the
public. The new Emergency Department entrances will
be as follows:
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All ambulance
traffic will enter the existing ED through a new
entrance that is being constructed.
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Walk-in traffic
will enter in front of the hospital utilizing
the walkway located between the Medical Arts
Pavilion and the north entrance of the hospital.
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Once open, these
entrances will be visibly marked with signs and
lighting. Additionally, the walk-in traffic
entrance will be manned by staff, including
clinical employees and security.
Watch for more
updates as they become available. Thanks to all our
patients, guests, and employees for their
cooperation as we prepare for the opening of the
Cardiovascular and Stroke Center of East Texas.
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