Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 14
feature
Reading HealthPlex for Advanced Surgical & Patient Care:
Moving Medicine Forward in Berks County and Beyond
Reading Health System
I
n October 2016, Reading Health System capped off a three-year
construction project of its brand new, state-of-the-art inpatient
and surgical facility, the culmination of more than 10 years of
strategic and meticulous planning.
personalized emergency mental healthcare 24 hours a day, seven
days a week in the new space. With 10 private treatment rooms,
the Psychiatric Emergency Unit provides a safe and secure unit for
patients in crisis. Reading Health sees an average of 485 behavioral
health patients each month.
At 476,000 square feet, Reading HealthPlex was completely selffunded from operations, allowing the health system to construct
Specialized psychiatric emergency departments have been
the facility on time, under budget and without taking on new proven to enhance care for psychiatric patients and to enhance care
debt or raising rates. The facility includes seven patient-care levels, by providing services in a dedicated area. The new unit will help
combining the hospital's expansive surgical services into one of the Reading Health specialists more effectively and efficiently evaluate
most technologically advanced and sophisticated surgical centers in and treat emergency behavioral health patients in the level of
the region. The new facility added 24 surgical suites - including inpatient or outpatient care they need.
six hybrid-capable operating rooms - that doubled the size of the
former operating rooms; eight procedure rooms; 150 all-new private
Next-Gen Technology for Advanced Surgical
patient rooms, and an 88,000-square-foot eco-friendly Green Roof
- the largest green roof of its kind in Pennsylvania and the third Procedures and Better Outcomes
largest on a health care building in the United States - providing a
The new healthcare facility has quickly become a regional
respite for healing and reflection.
leader in providing advanced surgical procedures and outstanding
Clint Matthews, President and CEO of Reading Health System, patient care. The HealthPlex greatly expanded and modernized
points to the value of the new Reading HealthPlex to the Reading the hospital's operating suites, which averaged 350 square feet
community. "We not only see this as an opportunity to strengthen when built in the late 1960s. The smallest of the 24 new Reading
our position as a nationally-recognized leader, we see it as a way to HealthPlex operating rooms is 650 square feet. Every detail of the
invest in our employees; an investment that will provide them with new surgical suite was designed with patient safety as a priority. For
all of the tools necessary to provide world-class care to our patients example, the operating room walls in the HealthPlex are made of
every day." He adds, "In my discussions with other Chief Executive Corian, a flat, non-porous surface, allowing for better and more
Officers, both locally as well as afar, they recognize Reading Health efficient cleaning in the operating rooms, further decreasing the
and how we have continued to strive for excellence and strive to likelihood of infection.
improve the level of services that we provide. They see this new
Another detail resulting in efficiencies for the surgical team was
building and the services and technologies that we bring to the
the integration of improvements in wiring and lighting. "Lighting
community as an even greater opportunity to do that."
has changed dramatically over the past 15, 20 years, especially the
The addition of Reading HealthPlex to Reading Health's West ability to offer soft lighting, lighting that is less heat producing,"
Reading campus also paved the way for the expansion of the existing explains Robert Brigham, MD, Chair, Department of Surgery.
Emergency Department, the busiest in the state of Pennsylvania and "The connections for gases for the anesthesiologist, the electrical
ninth busiest emergency department in the country - as recently connections for all these different pieces of equipment. Rather than
published by Becker's Hospital Review. With more than 134,000 having cords that traverse the floor and create safety problems for
annual patient visits, the emergency department added 17,500 those walking through the operating room, they are now brought
square feet of new clinical space in the HealthPlex, providing 16 down through what we call booms from the ceiling and all those
new emergency rooms. Additionally, five new trauma bays - with connections are easily made adjacent to the operating room tables.
the capability to expand to nine bays - were added within the space. All those technologies have offered an opportunity for us to really
improve the surgical care that can be delivered to the patient in our
The new space also includes a designated Psychiatric Emergency community," Dr. Brigham says.
Unit, providing specialized emergency psychiatric care within
Reading HealthPlex showcases other advanced technologies,
Reading Hospital's Emergency Department. Reading Health's
Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) provides high-quality, including telemedicine-enabled operating rooms to provide
14 COMMERCE QUARTERLY SPRING 2017
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 1
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 2
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 3
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 4
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 5
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 6
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 7
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 8
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 9
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 10
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 11
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 12
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 13
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 14
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 15
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 16
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 17
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 18
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 19
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 20
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 21
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 22
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 23
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 24
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 25
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 26
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 27
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 28
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 29
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 30
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 31
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 32
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 33
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 34
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 35
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 36
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 37
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 38
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 39
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 40
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 41
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 42
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 43
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 44
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 45
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 46
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 47
Greater Reading Chamber Commerce Quarterly Spring 2017 - 48
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