Hospital Expansion Delivers More Life to Dublin

Hospital Expansion Delivers More Life to Dublin A $20 million renovation to the OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital helps local patients receive excellent care in their community

By Megan Hageman

22 • February/March 2020 O OhioHealth’s Dublin Methodist Hospital has been on a mission to create a different kind of health care experience since its opening on Jan. 8, 2008.

The hospital combines a commitment to providing excellent care in areas ranging from behavioral health to cardiology and maternity care, with a welcoming, community approach.

Sherrie Valentine, the hospital director of obstetrics and women’s health services, explains the logic behind Dublin’s initial design featuring natural light and fewer white walls; a strategic plan built on evidence-based feedback sourced directly from patients.

“There is some level of tension and anxiety you’re experiencing when you walk through the front doors of a hospital. Even if the reason is a new baby, you’re still anxious,” Valentine says. “So, the whole environment of this hospital is designed to create a warm and soothing space, not one where it’s very medically oriented.”

The draw of this comforting space and patients’ desire to be treated closer to home has led to an influx of new patients, making the need for expansion at the Dublin location evident.

Dublin Methodist Hospital’s $20 million expansion commenced in 2018 to make room for growing demand and updated service offerings.

Maternity Inpatient and Outpatient Additions

As a segment of the renovations, a 15- bed observation unit was added that connects to the hospital’s emergency room.

However, the major focus of the expansion was in the maternity unit.

“When we first opened, we opened a brand new hospital, it was a challenge because you don’t know what to expect,” says Valentine. “Within two years we tripled our volume. We started between 700 and 800 births a year, and today we’re at about 3,000.”

To accommodate the overflow, eight additional postpartum rooms were designed to make a total of 27, and the hospital’s 10th labor delivery room was added to the second floor. With the growth, Dublin Methodist can now even accommodate patient transfers from neighboring OhioHealth locations. “When other facilities, such as Riverside, are at a high volume pace, we can help alleviate and balance out that volume because we are all OhioHealth and we support each other,” Valentine explains. With this further development of inpatient areas, the clear next step was to advance the women’s health outpatient services as well.

Prior to the improvements, services such as prenatal testing were carried out

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in the inpatient triage unit, mixing two populations with very different needs. To address this issue, Valentine and her team received authorization to utilize empty space on the second floor of the medical office building, located beside the main hospital.

“We retrofitted three different services into this space including maternal fetal medicine five days a week, prenatal testing five days a week and we opened up an outpatient lactation center,” says Valentine.

Room for Residency

More patients at Dublin Methodist means more hands on deck.

In July 2018, the hospital’s first class of six family medicine residents began their training, led by Dr. Matthew Kunar, Dublin Methodist’s director of medical education.

“Before I started we never had any residents or medical students in the hospital. As a hospital we avoided medical education,” says Kunar. “Over time, as the hospital got busier and was able to support medical education and train family physicians, the perfect opportunity came.”

Kunar describes the work of family medicine as “from birth to grave.” He also explains how residents rotate through services within the hospital to gain experience in all areas and how beneficial the expansion has been to the program.

“It’s been great for the trainees in our program to have a higher patient volume at the hospital. An increase enhances the medical education for our department,” says Kunar.

The family medicine residency is a three-year program, and in July 2020 the third class will begin for a total of 18 residents in the hospital.

OhioHealth’s overarching mission is “to improve the health of those we serve.” Dublin Methodist is no exception and takes this commitment to the next level. The Dublin location will continue to refine the space, services and resources offered to fit the ever-changing needs of the community and deliver care that is personalized and convenient. The door is always open for future expansion.

“Dublin always wants to be a community hospital at heart but we also want to see what services are best for that community,” says Kunar. “If we can always offer more services at the hospital so people don’t have to travel further away from their homes, that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

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