News

The face of healthcare in Ashtabula County is changing as Ashtabula Regional Medical Center (ARMC) officially cut the ribbon and makes final preparations to begin moving patients into its new Patient Care Tower.

Teams of caregivers will begin moving into the new building next week, starting with the Emergency Department on Tuesday, June 18 and continuing through the weekend.

“We are proud and excited to share this facility with Ashtabula County and our neighbors from around the region,” said ARMC Healthcare System President Leonard Stepp, Jr. “The new tower provides a better healing environment for our patients and a better working environment for our caregivers.”

Construction of the four-story, $115 million building took just under two years to complete.

The 115,000-square-foot building is the largest construction project in the hospital’s 120-year history. It houses 55 private patient rooms, 24 emergency department rooms, five operating rooms, with an option to open a sixth. The tower is also home to a community and education room, the wound healing center and the gift shop.

Discussions about a new hospital began almost 10 years ago and planning started in mid-2019 with reviews of healthcare and volume trends. Teams spent several months meeting with department managers and leadership to assess current services and the physical space in which those services were provided, as well as plans for the future.

“After that period of review, we explored several different scenarios,” said Stepp. “Emergency services, inpatient care, and surgery are critical services for a community hospital to offer. Those were also the areas of the old hospital that had reached their capacity and were in most need for expansion.”

The Patient Care Tower was designed not only with comfort and safety in mind, but with an eye to aesthetics, as well. The glass and panel façade will present an ever-changing look of texture, light, and color as the days and seasons go by. Hundreds of pieces of calming artwork have been installed in patient rooms and corridors. The amount of natural light entering the building will aid in healing, as exposure to natural light has been shown to decrease pain, lower blood pressure, improve sleep and ease anxiety. Work will begin soon on a garden at the south end of the tower that will feature seating and calming landscape elements. The audio kiosk that recounts the history of the Ashtabula Train Disaster, the catalyst which led to the creation of the original hospital in 1904, will be installed near the garden.

The origins of a hospital in Ashtabula are traced to community support. Following the train disaster, the community came together to raise funds to build a hospital. That community support has remained throughout the 120-year history of ARMC.

“As we embarked on the tower project, it was important that we honor the long history of the community’s support of us. We made a commitment to include as many of the local businesses as possible so that revenue was returned to the people who entrust us with their care. I am proud to say that approximately 13 percent – over $10 million – of the project cost has been spent with local businesses,” Stepp said.

There has also been tremendous amount of philanthropic support. Over $8.2 million has been pledged to date to support the Patient Care Tower.

“This truly has been a long journey, with many partners along the way, to create a healthcare facility our community deserves and can be proud of,” Stepp said. “Our new Patient Care Tower will allow Ashtabula Regional Medical Center to continue our long history of meeting the ever-changing healthcare needs of Ashtabula County and the surrounding communities.”