Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center today announced completion of the 50-bed inpatient wing at Wake Forest Baptist Health – Davie Medical Center. When the three-story, 78,220 square foot addition officially opens Monday, April 3, it will consolidate all Davie Medical Center services into one location.
The new $47 million wing’s 50 inpatient beds were relocated to Bermuda Run after the Mocksville facility was decommissioned earlier this month.
In addition to the general medical-surgical beds, the new wing offers an inpatient pharmacy, a chapel, a café, rehabilitation facilities, offices for Wake Forest Baptist physicians, therapists and staff, and a history wall that honors the past with key keepsakes, photographs and video memories of the first Davie County Hospital over its more than 60 years of providing care to county residents.
"When we first proposed this new hospital, it was always our intent to have an inpatient wing so people in Davie County could receive care and treatment close to home," said John D. McConnell, M. D., CEO, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. “Today marks the fulfillment of that commitment we made to the citizens of Davie County nine years ago.”
The new inpatient addition is designed to meet the care needs of Davie County and surrounding communities now and as the region’s population grows.
“Davie Medical Center is a hospital for today and the future,” said Chad Brown, M.H.A./M.B.A., president, Davie Medical Center. “We have been seeing patients for more than three years in our emergency department, clinics and outpatient departments. Now, that we have inpatient services here, we can deliver a full range of high quality, patient-and family-centered care that serves all ages in our community in one location.”
The inpatient services, uniquely fitted to serve the growing community, are located across three floors of the new facility.
Joint replacement program. The top floor is dedicated to the joint replacement program. It offers inpatient hip and knee replacement surgeries. Some of the room designs include lifts to help safely move patients to and from the bed. The lifts also help patients become mobile as soon as possible to assist in their recovery. In addition, the floor features an inpatient rehabilitation gym to aid in recovery.
The new inpatient joint program brings the expertise of Wake Forest Baptist’s faculty and clinicians to Davie County, complementing the existing outpatient surgery and rehabilitation services already offered.
ACE unit. The first floor of the inpatient addition houses an acute care for the elderly (ACE) unit. The ACE unit creates a care destination for geriatric patients and leverages Wake Forest Baptist’s 25 years of experience in geriatric clinical practice and faculty research.
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is home to the J. Paul Sticht Center, an internationally known center for aging. The Davie Medical Center ACE unit will expand capacity at the Sticht Center and bring leading edge geriatric care and research to the bedside at the Davie campus.
The first floor also will have designated medical-surgical beds that allow medical and surgical admissions from Davie Medical Center’s emergency department as well as offer an option for those people living nearby to receive care close to home when appropriate.
All patient rooms are private and larger than the former Mocksville hospital rooms, which means family members can sleep close to their loved ones. Each room is equipped with convertible furniture that can be used as a bed, couch or a work station with plugs for electronic devices. There are also small safes in each room so patients and family members can secure items while away from the room.
Inpatient bathrooms feature soft-close, sliding doors to allow safer entry and exit. The showers are step-free to allow handicap access and prevent falls.
New technologies. The GetWellNetwork will be available in patient rooms. The interactive video system offers video education, ways to communicate with and recognize hospital staff, television and internet access, on-demand movies and games.
Wake Forest Baptist is the first health system in the region, and one of only two in the state to use this service, which encourages patients and their families to be active participants in their medical care. It supports the Medical Center’s commitment to patient- and family-centered care by building relationships with and encouraging collaboration between patients, families and health care teams.
A Real-time Location System (RTLS) will be used in the inpatient wing. A RTLS is an indoor GPS linked to small devices worn by staff or tagged to key equipment. The device staff will wear is about the size of a credit card and has up to three “call” buttons on it.
The RTLS is designed to improve the overall patient experience.
The device can be customized by department to maximize staff efficiency and patient visibility, making it easier for personnel to summon a colleague, report a medical problem, contact security or locate equipment.
The system also maintains ideal temperatures in refrigerators and freezers, ensuring the safety and quality of stored items.
History wall. On the lower level there is a café and the history wall. The wall consists of exhibits that depict the start of hospital care in Davie County at the county’s first hospital in Mocksville in 1956. The wall also includes a video history with interviews from former health care providers and leaders in the county.
The wall provides insight into how important health care was and is to the community and to the medical center that cares about its community past and present.
There is one historical reminder of the Mocksville hospital that will remain active in the new inpatient wing. The furniture from the Mocksville chapel has been refurbished and the pews, lectern and padded kneelers have been relocated to Davie Medical Center’s chapel.
Artwork. Another healing and reflective feature of the new patient wing is the art displayed throughout the building. The artwork was chosen by a community advisory group to reflect the essence of Davie County and the surrounding region.
Twenty different artists, 17 of whom are from Davie County and the surrounding area, provided 58 pieces from oils, pastels, photography and metal sculpture to fiber, watercolors and glass.
Media Relations
Joe McCloskey: jmcclosk@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-1273
Eryn Johnson: eryjohns@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-8228