The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over, but Penn Presbyterian Medical Center is not slowing down. Throughout 2019, we made significant strides to provide exceptional care for our patients, support our dedicated staff, and expand our services. In addition to exceeding our patient experience goals and introducing security enhancements, we’ve also made progress on a variety of construction projects. I’d like to share some of the latest updates, as well as PPMC’s campus planning vision for 2020.
Our Acute Care for Elders unit, which had been long overdue for an upgrade, has entered the sixth and final phase of its refresh project. With just a few room renovations remaining, all of the patient-centered updates are set to be completed by February. Construction on the Radiation-Oncology suite, which houses a new linear accelerator, is also due to finish in February. Adding this new service has paved the way for us to create a convenient, one-stop cancer treatment center that will officially open to patients in April. The second floor of this state-of-the-art building will also feature four additional operating rooms, two of which will be completed by April, and two by early fiscal year 2021.
Similar to these multi-phase projects, our parking garage project has also required extensive preparation. Occupants of our 3910 Building have been transferring to other areas so the building can be torn down in spring 2020. As part of this relocation process, our outpatient behavioral health practice will move to 4040 Market Street by the end of February. A new garage will take the place of the building in 2021, more than tripling the number of available parking spaces for patients, visitors, and employees.
We are also making headway on two initiatives designed to increase our capacity by early FY21. We are creating a 12-bed medical/surgical unit on Wright Saunders 3 by moving our observation unit to a prefabricated structure, then moving our pre/post-cardiology cath unit into the former observation space. We also plan to transfer our skilled nursing facility to Penn Medicine Rittenhouse, though it will still be staffed by PPMC employees. This will clear space for 18 beds on Wright Saunders 4 while also consolidating the inpatient rehab, long-term acute care unit, and SNF into one comprehensive location. These changes will position us to keep up with increasing volume and support seamless patient progression.
The year ahead will be busy and challenging, but I am confident that these investments will prepare us to better meet the needs of today’s patients and to plan for the needs of patients we will serve years from now. As Penn Presbyterian continues to evolve, I am grateful for your patience, support, adaptability, and commitment to our shared success.