12/13/2012

Garrison Wing Opens with Ribbon Cutting and Dedication

Wentworth-Douglass Hospital (WDH) officially opened the new Garrison Wing during a Ribbon Cutting and Dedication event Thursday, December 13, 2012. The Board of Trustees, Foundation Board, Auxiliary Board, major donors, hospital leadership, members of the medical staff, City officials, representatives of the construction company, architects, designers and the CEO’s of both WDH and Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General) came together to thank everyone involved in the building process and future endeavors. 

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Neil Garvey welcomed everyone to the event and thanked Board members for their commitment to this project. “It is one thing to plan a building…and a whole other thing to actually build it,” said Garvey.

In his dedicatory address WDH President & CEO Gregory Walker stressed how growth in patient volume created the need to expand. “The Garrison Wing is just the most recent in a series of additions over many years,” said Walker. “For over 10 decades, this Hospital has been on a steady course to meet the demands of our community for the highest quality health care. The 136,000 sq. ft. building will help accommodate our birth rate which has doubled over the past decade. It will also reduce backups in the Emergency Department caused too often by patients waiting for inpatient rooms.”

President of the WDH Medical Staff Joseph White, MD, told the crowd how proud he was to be part of an organization dedicated to bringing the best medical care to the Seacoast. “Other community hospitals would long to have the services we have here,” said White. “I applaud the Hospital in all they’ve done in searching out the best in medical care and bringing it here. I’m proud to be here as a physician, a Board of Trustee member but also as a resident.”

Dover City Manager Mike Joyal said WDH is a cornerstone of the community and he was happy to see all the support the hospital received from community members to fund the new Garrison Wing.

For WDH, the growth in patient volume and new building comes with a growth in relationships with donors and other entities such as Mass General. Mass General President Peter Slavin, MD, said his organization is extremely committed to the relationship with WDH. “What will make this building so special is not the bricks and mortar but the staff,” said Slavin, “and we’ve come to learn what dedicated and talented caregivers you have here at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.”

Throughout the event, donors were thanked for over $1 million in funds to support the new Garrison Wing.

The first floor of the Garrison Wing will feature education rooms for staff training, medical education and community lectures. A Chaplain’s office and a Library for patients, staff and family will also be located on this floor. The second floor will house a new Women & Children’s Center with a dedicated C-section OR, family playroom and single room nurseries for privacy and high-level care. The third and fourth floors are 32-bed inpatients units. The patient care areas were designed with all private rooms, wider doors, easy access bathrooms and showers and improved lighting.