The hospital says the expansion comes as the facility has seen a rise in occupancy in recent years. The project includes the addition of 28 private inpatient bedrooms which will be built out on the building's 6th floor. Construction began earlier this year.
According to a press release, 20 beds will offer general inpatient rehabilitation, but the hospital says all rooms will be built for higher acuity patients and will be similar to Mary Free Bed’s Intensive Medical Rehabilitation Unit. 16 of the rooms will be equipped with ventilator and dialysis capabilities.
The hospital will also hire more than a dozen staff including acute care nurses, clinical and support staff.
Mary Free Bed Chief Financial Officer Ryan Podvin said the expansion is a step in the right direction for the hospital as it aims to be a national provider of post-acute and rehabilitation care.
“This expansion means we’re a step closer to that goal,” he said. “To make sure we have the capacity to treat the most complicated patients in the state and in the region that need rehabilitative care. So we are very much after the tertiary and quaternary patients that nobody else can take care of because that’s what we’re set up to do here in Grand Rapids.”
Podvin said with the addition, the hospital will be able to serve more patients from its primary and secondary service areas including Greater Grand Rapids, West Michigan, Northern Indiana, East Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
The addition is expected to be completed in September of this year.