After three years of construction, Genesis Health System has begun using the new addition to its east campus in Davenport. Employees began touring the 150 million dollar, 7-story tower, on Thursday.
Vice president for Construction and Design, Mike Sharp, says the best feature of the new addition is the state-of-the-art technology.
"Right to the glass on the front of the building, to the air handling units, to all the safety and alarm systems and the quality that's brought into each patient room."
Also pleased with the new addition is registered nurse Diane Bartelson. She says the new surgical rooms are larger, with much better lighting, and monitors on booms come down from the ceiling so everyone has a better view of the operation.
"The booms have our electrical outlets on them so the cords won't be stretched across the room which is a safety hazard that we currently face in our old, smaller o.r.'s - there's never enough outlets to plug things in."
Sharp says the first floor for outpatient care and the emergency department is open now. Then in two weeks, all surgery will move from old rooms in the west and east campuses, and in June inpatient beds will begin moving to the new tower.
