TUBA CITY, Ariz –Due to increasing needs and growth, the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corp. (TCRHCC) Emergency Department began construction on March 28 to increase the emergency room by 6,000 square feet and adding 10 beds.
This first phase of the emergency room expansion began on Monday, March 28th with construction scheduled for completion in February 2023. As part of the ER expansion, 10 beds/bay will be added, including additional space for storage, and workstations with new equipment and monitoring systems. The expansion will add 6,000 square feet to the hospital. The project was made possible through COVID-19 response and preparedness funding.
“Construction fencing will be up and that it may be a change for some of our patients and those in the community. We want to assure the public that the emergency room is open during construction.” said Sarah L. White, TCRHCC Interim Director of Emergency Services. “The ER expansion will give us more space to provide high quality compassionate care within our Navajo Nation Community.”
Contractors will close off access to parking lot 8 by installing fencing on the north side of the TCRHCC campus. The area will be closed off to guests and patients accessing the north ER entrance parking lot. The north ER parking will be removed and moved to the west main entrance area, located between the three-story Outpatient Primary Care Center and Hospital.
There will be no changes to the ambulance entering and accessing the north ER entrance.
The construction project will optimize our existing emergency department space to meet the community’s current and future needs as the hospital continues to provide quality care, improve capacity and patient flow.
“We are finally able to afford an expansion that has been badly needed for more than a decade,” said Lynette Bonar, CEO. “This additional space will add an environment that provides ventilation that is safe for our staff and patients in response to this ongoing COVID pandemic.”
Since 2014, TCRHCC has held the Level III Trauma Center health care status. TCRHCC is the only Navajo health care provider that is verified as a Level III Trauma Center by the Verification Review Committee (VRC), an ad hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma (COT) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).
The distinction enables the hospital to see and take care of more critically injured patients. The only other Native American Level III trauma center is in Anchorage, Alaska.
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