Newswise — NYU Langone Medical Center broke ground today on the construction of a new emergency facility, the Center for Emergency Services, which will nearly triple the size of the current emergency department. The expansion is designed to meet the growing need for emergency services in the community and will include, for the first time, a dedicated pediatric emergency care area.

“We are excited to begin the construction of our new, state-of-the-art emergency department. The new Center for Emergency Services is an integral part of our campus transformation and will help enable us to not only provide world-class patient-centered emergency care, but to provide that care in a cutting-edge, world-class environment,” said Robert I. Grossman, MD, dean and CEO of NYU Langone Medical Center, “We also want to recognize and thank our donors for their support of this very important project and, without whom, we would not have been able to put the shovel in the ground earlier today.”

The new emergency facility will maximize efficiencies and new technologies by facilitating separate entrances between ambulance and walk-in patients. When the three year multi-phased project is complete, the new Center will increase from its current 6,900 square feet to 22,000 square feet. The new center will have 40 emergency care beds and dedicated emergency radiology services to facilitate rapid imaging and diagnosis in the Center. The new dedicated pediatric area will have a child-focused and family-centered environment that includes pediatric private exam/treatment rooms, dedicated pediatric triage, a pediatric waiting/play area and a Caregiver Station for pediatric emergency staff.

The overall emergency facility expansion has been made possible through the generous philanthropic support of multiple donors, including the most recent commitment announced today from the Elmer and Mamdouha Bobst Foundation for $5 million. Other donors include Trustee Louis Marx Jr., John and Barbara Vogelstein, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, Trustee Sidney Lapidus and Ruth Lapidus, Trustee Thomas S. Murphy, Robert and Ellen Kapito, Trustee Elizabeth Dater Jennings and William M. Jennings, Jr., and the Sephardic Hospital Fund-Medstar.

The creation of the new dedicated pediatric emergency care center was made possible in part by the generosity of Trudy Elbaum and Robert W. Gottesman, in addition to a grant from KiDS of NYU Foundation, Inc. specifically for this purpose.

The expansion is part of a major campus transformation initiative at the Medical Center and is one in a series of renovations and construction projects designed to create a medical center for the 21st Century. This included the complete renovation and expansion of its Critical Care Unit in Tisch Hospital and its new Outpatient Surgery Center, a 22,000 square foot facility specializing in minimally invasive orthopaedic procedures. The Medical Center also opened the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Wound Healing Center, the Yung Hsia Women’s Pavilion, The Elly Hammerman Inpatient Pediatric Unit and expanded the Jean & David Blechman Cardiac & Vascular Center.

About NYU Langone Medical Center:NYU Langone Medical Center, a world-class patient-centered integrated academic medical center, is one of the nation’s premier centers for excellence in health care, biomedical research, and medical education. Located in the heart of Manhattan, NYU Langone is comprised of three hospitals – Tisch Hospital, a 705-bed acute-care tertiary facility, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, the first rehabilitation hospital in the world, with 174 beds and extensive outpatient rehabilitation programs, and the 190-bed Hospital for Joint Diseases, one of only five hospitals in the world dedicated to orthopaedics and rheumatology—plus the NYU School of Medicine, one of the nation’s preeminent academic institutions. For more information, visit www.NYULMC.org.