NW Medical celebrates five years in new facility
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
BENTONVILLE - Lillian Pingel has been sewing red hearts onto teddy bears and delivering them to emergency patients in the Bentonville area for more than 20 years. So no one needs to tell her that health care - and the population - have changed dramatically during that time.
"My first year of volunteering, we probably delivered 20 bears," Pingel said. "That's when everything was at the Bates Hospital on North Walton Boulevard - before (Northwest Medical Center of Bentonville ) was even thought of. Compare that to this past year, when we delivered about 1, 200 bears to emergency-room and pediatric surgery patients."
The opening of Northwest Medical Center at 3000 Medical Center Parkway in Bentonville helped set the stage for expanded care and for the population explosion the area was experiencing. Administrators, hospital staff, area leaders and volunteers, such as Pingel, gathered at the Bentonville facility Monday to slice cake and celebrate the hospital's fifth birthday.
"I'm sure there are many of you in the room today who remember the day we transported 13 patients from the old Bates Hospital to this new facility five years ago," said Mark Bethell, COO of Northwest Medical Center of Bentonville. "As I look at some of the statistics, accomplishments and milestones, that number - 13 patients - stands out even more."
According to Bethell, there have been 122, 921 emergency-room visits, 24, 737 patient admissions, 13, 363 surgeries and 4, 092 births at Northwest Medical Center in Bentonville since it opened its doors five years ago. In addition, the organization has paid $ 3. 5 million in property taxes, provided $ 66. 7 million in uncompensated care and served 334, 001 patients.
"It's staggering when you hear it put like that," Pingel said. "But it's no secret everything has changed and grown so much."
Bates Medical Center, which preceded Northwest Medical Center, opened its doors in 1942. The new fourstory, 204, 112-square-foot facility, which opened in May 2003, features 91 licensed beds and was constructed for $ 41. 4 million. Two major renovation and expansion projects have taken place on the campus since it opened, and the property has been secured to double the size of the facility when the demand is there.
As part of the hospital's fifth-anniversary celebration on Tuesday, Northwest Medical Center administration presented a donation check of $ 5, 000 to Northwest Arkansas Community College to fund nursing scholarships.
"We are proud of having served the health-care needs of this community for five years from this new facility and look forward to doing so for many more years," Bethell said. "The progress we have made and the response we have received from the community have been nothing short of amazing. So this gift is our symbolic way of showing our commitment to the health care and well-being of this community by helping to grow and develop the next generation of nurses who will serve this region in the years to come."
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