ONAWA, Iowa (KTIV) – As medicine and technology evolve, so do our county hospital systems.
It’s been almost three years in the making. Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Iowa is newly renovated and expanded after a $20 million investment.
The need for more room came from having visiting specialists previously at max capacity, now allowing more specialists to come in and give care closer to home.
“We’re currently in our new specialty clinic area expanded to 16 exam rooms from our previous six exam rooms, three procedure areas from our previous one, a dedicated entrance and waiting room, allowing much more space for our visiting specialists and our patients,” said Teresa Butler, Sr. VP of Clinical Services
The expansion continues into the Infusion Center going from three rooms to four private rooms and a community area where people receive their therapies and medications.
In that space, they tried to make it as comfortable and relaxing as possible as they were getting IV antibiotics. If they’re on a six-week regimen, they could be coming to this room twice a day.
“If patients are coming there for chemotherapy, they could be there for you know, hours on end, so we have comfortable recliners for them and then also beds in those private rooms that they can lay in if they’d like to lay down and take naps too,” said Karla Copple, Director of Emergency, Inpatient, and Infusion Services
In the Emergency Department, the goal to have more private continues as well as high-tech features as one of the most used areas of the hospital.
“Way more high tech than we were in our old space, our equipment is state of the art. Now, we also have a behavioral health room that we did not have before, which, unfortunately, we use really quite often now. In that room, we can have a garage door where we can put all the equipment and anything that a patient may harm themselves or staff members potentially with behind that garage door, we can just close that. So the only thing left in the room is a bed,” said Copple.
“It’s really just investing in modern technology, you know rural medicine needs to have the same technology and access to high-quality care that you would in an urban setting,” said Burgess Health Center CEO and President Lynn Wold. “So, you know, the local board here made a great courageous commitment to invest in this project. And really position the community for the next 20-plus years with this project.”
This is the third major upgrade Burgess Health Center has seen since it opened in 1963.
“It was a renovation project in the early 1990′s. And then there was one in 2006. And now this one here,” said Wold.
The improvements here to the healthcare system in Onawa have been something that not only benefits the town but the whole county.
“We’re also an economic engine for this community we’re the largest employer in the county. And that’s important too. It’s it’s part of quality life in terms of why people would choose to live here and stay here and raise their families and having a facility like Burgess is critical,” added Wold. “Almost 2800 people, you would not necessarily find this level of health care facility in this size community. And it’s just got a great rich heritage of you know, going back to that 1963 effort when they opened this hospital.”
“They’re getting the care that they maybe would not be able to travel to either Sioux City or Omaha due to either health issues or transportation issues. So it is really important with role care, that we bring those specialists closer to our patients,” explained Butler.
Burgess Health Center is open now in all departments ready to assist patients in Monona County and surrounding areas.
For a full list of services and specialties follow this link.
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