Maloney To Seek Funds For Hospital Project
WASHINGTON, March 18–U.S. Rep. James H. Maloney, D-Conn., announced Monday he will request about $2 million from the next federal budget for St. Mary’s Hospital in downtown Waterbury. The money would be used for a renovation project to expand and modernize the hospital’s emergency facilities.
Maloney noted that St. Mary’s currently treats nearly 65,000 patients annually at a facility that was originally built for a capacity of 35,000.
“There are limits on privacy,” Maloney said. “The staff gets so busy during the course of the day that they are forced to put patients on gurneys in the hallways as they try to make room for [more] people.”
Maloney toured St. Mary’s Hospital Monday. He said that the $2 million in federal assistance, which he will request from the House Appropriations health subcommittee, will help the hospital reduce patient overcrowding.
“They are really doing an amazing job with very constrained resources,” Maloney said. “I will begin to put together a formal appropriations request for this facility for the new budget that is under consideration this year.”
According to Martin G. Morrissey, the interim president-CEO of St. Mary’s Hospital, the application process for federal finding started “in earnest” last Wednesday when several hospital administrators discussed their preliminary plans with Maloney in a meeting at his Washington office.
St. Mary’s Hospital had asked Maloney during that meeting to support its initiative to increase the number of adult and pediatric patient rooms from 16 to 24 in addition to constructing a central core nursing station, “so that all of the nurses can literally have an eye on all of the patients’ rooms,” Maloney said.
The hospital would also expand its waiting area, trauma facility, and psychiatric and surgical rooms, Morrissey said. The renovation project would also construct more space for large radiation equipment as well as the ambulance arrival area.
“There are parallel needs,” Maloney noted. “[St. Mary’s Hospital] is right around the corner from the police department, which frequently uses it. It is also in the middle of a cluster of senior housing.”
Captain P.M. Bruce, spokesperson for the Waterbury Police Department, said that although Waterbury Hospital is also in the area, approximately 10 to 15 prisoners are brought to the emergency room of St. Mary’s Hospital on a weekly basis due to its close proximity to police headquarters.
In addition to prisoners, many elderly patients are often brought to St. Mary’s Hospital as well, according to Scott M. Ziegler, chief operating officer of Creative Management and Realty, which houses more than 650 seniors at three of its downtown elderly apartment communities.
“Unless a resident requests to go to another hospital, they go down to St. Mary’s,” said Zeigler, who also serves as an Emergency Medical Technician for the Southbury Ambulance Association.
“From my experience as an EMT, I have seen it overcrowded many times. Any expansion will help not only the elderly population, but any population going to the facility,” Zeigler said.
Morrissey said the hospital will try to match the $2 million appropriations request through philanthropy and other fundraising sources.
If the monetary goal is achieved, Morrissey said, the hospital would phase in the construction over time in order to avoid denying patient access to medical attention.
“We’re grateful for Congressman Maloney’s support and we look forward to helping him gain success in this endeavor in whatever ways we can,” Morrissey said.
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
