THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210520
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A new round of renovations approved for Albemarle Hospital this week will be the latest step in a ``continual evolvement'' for the facility, administrators said Wednesday.
The $8 million plan to update equipment and expand outpatient services will help the hospital meet a rising demand for high-tech and outpatient care, Chief Executive Officer Douglas Fairfax said.
The plan, which will begin with the hiring of an architect within a month and continue for about two years, follows a multi-year, $22 million renovation completed last year. Before that project, Albemarle Hospital went more than a decade without a major upgrade.
``The last program was more-or-less playing catch-up,'' Fairfax said of the $22 million project. ``This one is more-or-less keeping current.
``People don't look for second class. We're going to be first class, because that's what the people in this area deserve.''
The project calls for about $6 million in construction and roughly $2 million for equipment. Two major pieces of technology that currently operate from mobile units - a cardiac catheterization laboratory and magnetic resonance imaging unit - will be updated and moved into fixed positions at the hospital.
Other expenses will include renovations to outpatient surgery facilities and diagnostic services, and improvements to medical intensive care, the kitchen and energy management systems.
The renovations will be paid for out of hospital reserves and require no borrowing, officials said.
Pasquotank County commissioners, who must approve hospital expenditures of more than $500,000, gave the go-ahead Monday for hiring an architect.
``I think it's needed,'' Commissioner Zee Lamb said Wednesday. ``Health care is changing so rapidly that they can't really just stand still or they're going to lose market share. . . . They're just trying to keep up with changes in technology.''
The hospital's market share has increased to around 50 percent in the last few years, and officials said they hope to drive it up to about 75 percent with its latest expansion. Officials also hope updated technology will help recruit and retain medical specialists.
Even while the new renovations are under way, the hospital will probably be planning for future projects to remain competitive.
``With the technology and everything changing as it is, they'll be looking at something else, I'm sure,'' said Pasquotank Commissioner Jimmie Dixon, who also serves on the hospital's 10-member trustee board.
``It's just like buying a computer. When you buy one today, it's already out of date.''
KEYWORDS: ALBEMARLE HOSPITAL
by CNB