Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center leaders today broke ground to signal the official start of construction of a 50-bed inpatient facility at the Davie Medical Center - Bermuda Run campus.
Construction of the three-story, 78,220 square foot building will take 14 months. The inpatient facility is expected to open in spring of 2017. The estimated cost of this addition to the Bermuda Run campus is $47 million.
The new building relocates inpatient services from the Mocksville campus to the Bermuda Run campus, consolidating services in one location. In addition to 50 general medical-surgical beds, the addition will also have a cafeteria, an inpatient pharmacy and a chapel as well as offices for some Wake Forest Baptist physicians.
"We made a promise to the citizens of Davie County in 2008 that any approved project for a medical center in the county would include an inpatient hospital, and today, we are putting that promise into action," said John D. McConnell, M. D., CEO, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "This inpatient facility will offer people in Davie County the care and treatment close to home that they deserve."
One of the additional services the inpatient facility will provide is an acute care for the elderly or ACE unit. The ACE Unit will create a care destination for geriatric patients leveraging 25 years of faculty research and clinical practice. Wake Forest Baptist’s main campus is home to the J. Paul Sticht Center, an internationally known aging center. The Davie Medical Center ACE Unit will alleviate capacity at the main campus and provide direct linkage of leading edge geriatric care and research to the bedside at the Davie campus.
“According to a study conducted by the Piedmont Triad Regional Council’s Area Agency on Aging, the 60-year-old and older demographic will make up the fastest growing segment of the county’s projected population of 43,400 people by 2030,” said Chad Brown, president, Davie Medical Center. “This inpatient facility with programs like the ACE Unit will provide patient-and family-centered care and treatment to serve all ages but especially the care needs of this growing population.”
Further positioning Davie Medical Center as a destination care center for our aging population, the inpatient facility also will launch a joint replacement program that will offer inpatient hip and knee replacement surgeries. The new inpatient joint program will bring the expertise of Wake Forest Baptist’s orthopaedic surgeons and clinicians to Davie County, complementing the existing outpatient surgery and rehabilitation services offered at Davie Medical Center.
Additional inpatient medical and surgical admissions provided when the inpatient facility opens will expand the ability of people living nearby to receive care close to home when appropriate.
The construction of the 50-bed inpatient facility is the second of a three phase economic development project and commitment by Wake Forest Baptist to the residents of Davie County. The first phase of construction included specialty clinics, cardiac rehabilitation, physical therapy and a pharmacy which opened in August 2013, as well as the emergency department and all outpatient services which was completed in October 2013. The third phase of construction consists of the development of the outparcel property surrounding the Davie Medical Center campus.
Media Relations
Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487
Eryn Johnson: eryjohns@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-8228