New emergency department now open at Baystate

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Baystate Medical Center began taking patients in its new emergency department on Monday morning.

The first patients entered the new $45 million facility around 7:30 A.M. The new emergency department is three times the size of Baystate’s old ER, and has state-of-the-art trauma and imaging rooms, as well as a separate pediatric area for children.

There are now 94 private patient-treatment rooms, centralized workstations, and advanced technology to enhance communications. The new emergency department also a new rooftop helipad, which will allow easy access to their trauma rooms.

While the grand opening for the much-anticipated addition was held on Monday, doctors and nurses had been doing training in the department last week, to get them acquainted with their new arrangements.