Construction on Iredell Memorial Hospital Expansion Progressing

Construction on the first phase of Iredell Memorial Hospital’s expansion to its Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit is well underway, with the new concrete foundation set and steel to be installed in the coming weeks.

Traffic flow around certain areas will continue to be limited throughout the construction process. Beginning Monday, July 24 at 8am, the driveway next to the helicopter pad will be completely closed to allow for a crane needed for the steel installation. This section of driveway has been closed since April to the public but has remained accessible to emergency vehicles. Members of the public coming to the hospital for services in the Emergency Department, Imaging, or visiting an individual in the patient tower, should continue to enter those designated parking areas (Lot E) by utilizing the entrance off of Brookdale Drive. Entrance to those areas will not be accessible from Hartness Road. Parking areas at the hospital’s main entrance (Entrance A) will remain open as usual.

Iredell Health System plans to expand the emergency department (ED) by 4,805 square feet and the critical care unit (CCU) by 11,195 square feet. The project will also include the renovation of the existing CCU. The ED will expand into the current emergency physician parking lot, and the expanded CCU will be built on top of that expansion.

The ED expansion will include the addition of 10 new treatment spaces, including several new exam rooms, three spacious critical care rooms for patients needing that level of care upon entering the emergency department, as well as four secure behavioral health holding rooms, with a special entrance and exit for patient privacy.

Iredell Memorial Hospital’s CCU currently has 16 rooms. After the expansion, the CCU will have 27 total rooms, with four rooms containing special bariatric ceiling lifts. The lifts make it easier for caregivers to safely lift and transfer all patients. Additionally, all 11 of the new rooms are capable of transforming into negative pressure isolation rooms, in case of the surge of a highly contagious disease, like COVID-19. In the second phase of the project, the existing CCU will be renovated with all new state-of-the-art equipment, beds, and larger patient rooms.

The exterior portion of the expansion is expected to be completed in summer of 2024, with interior renovations completed by the end of 2024.