EXPECTING A DOUBLING OF ELDERLY RESIDENTS IN THE COMING YEARS
January 17, 2017
by Jessica Bartlett, Reporter
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital has finished a renovation and expansion project intended to prep for what it expects to be a doubling of the number of elderly residents near its Cape location in coming years.
The $6.4 million project at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod in Sandwich included a two-story, 6,230-square-foot addition to the facility, and renovations to about one sixth of the space in the existing 76,900-square-foot hospital.
The construction was completed over 10 months with architectural design firm Margulies Perruzzi Architects. The hospital says it added two physician rooms and eight new outpatient therapy rooms, doubling private treatment space and increasing outpatient capacity.
On the outpatient treatment side, a multi-purpose room was added to the first floor for current and future wellness and community programs. In the inpatient hospital, five treatment rooms were added as well as a patient resource room.
The project also redesigned the reception area, expanded the lobby, and reimagined the check-in area to be more private and accommodating to patients.
The 60-bed hospital had faced space constraints with its existing volume, and executives only expected demand to increase as the elder population booms. According to the hospital, the number of residents on Cape Cod over 65 is projected to double between 2015 and 2030.
Currently the hospital, which is the only rehab hospital on the Cape, serves 1,100 patients annually. Its outpatient services and physicians also provide more than 100,000 visits annually. The expansion will allow the hospital to provide an additional 21,000 more visits a year.
Jessica Bartlett covers health care, including hospitals, health IT, health policy and insurance, as well as the beer industry.
