Renovations require
temporary relocation of emergency entrance
Image courtesy of TAMC
E.R. ENTRANCE MOVED TEMPORARILY — This map of TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital in Presque Isle indicates how patients using the Emergency Department can temporarily access the services during the renovation. Patients are asked to use Entrance B — further up Academy Street (the driveway closest to the Presque Isle Nursing Home) and to enter through the hospital’s main entrance.
PRESQUE ISLE — A major renovation of the Emergency Department at The Aroostook Medical Center will result in a temporary, six-week relocation of the entrance. Beginning at 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23, patients using the emergency room at TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital on Academy Street in Presque Isle will be directed to enter through the facility’s main entrance.
The change will mean that patients being driven, or driving themselves, to the emergency room will need to use the second driveway up Academy Street or the east entrance marked “driveway B” closest to the Presque Isle Nursing Home. Temporary signage at both entrances and on the hospital campus will direct patients accordingly.
Once patients arrive at the main entrance they will be directed where to go to be treated. There will be no interruption of service during the construction. Work is expected to be complete around June 1.
The renovation is part of an ongoing effort, more than a year in the making, to improve the patient experience at TAMC. The re-design of the Emergency Department was also necessary to better meet the needs of the changing patient demographic seeking treatment at TAMC and hospitals throughout Maine.
“The renovated Emergency Department is designed to improve patient flow and safety. Not only will the new environment improve efficiencies, we have focused the design on enhanced comfort for our patients and families,” said Daryl Boucher, director of emergency and critical care services at TAMC.
Among the new features are safer examination rooms, better storage, improved location of care stations and space for the transitional care coordinators, who will assist with assuring discharged patients’ needs are met.
During the six-week renovation period, incoming ambulance traffic will also be re-routed. Ambulances bringing patients to the E.R. are asked to use the entrance to the Giberson Day Surgery Unit as the ambulance garage entrance will also be inaccessible. The Giberson Day Surgery Unit entrance is immediately adjacent to the current emergency entrance.
