Burgess Patients Have New Home

Scores of Burgess Health Center employees became part of history as they pitched in to help patients move into the hospital’s new addition last Thursday.

The opening of the new addition marked another milestone in the history of Burgess, which opened more than 40 years ago.

Employees cleaned patient rooms, stocked shelves, moved beds, pushed wheelchairs, delivered phones, set up computers, checked monitors and handled dozens of other tasks to help the move go smoothly. During the activity construction workers continued with paint touch-ups and other final projects.

“Move-in day was exciting and memorable for our staff and our patients, “says Sandy Leggett, hospital COO. “Everything went very smoothly.”

Hundreds of employees, donors, board members, physicians and the general public walked through Burgess’s new patient addition in a tours and events in March. The words “impressive,” “amazing” and “beautiful” summed up evaluations.

“I’m really impressed,” said Margaret Copple, a building fund donor who attended the foundation’s event. “The private rooms are fantastic and the bathrooms are huge.”

“It looks like a place you actually want to stay in,” laughed her husband Wayne.

The Copples and other visitors and now patients are seeing rooms and hallways designed with special attention to color, furnishings and home-like comfort. The 31 private patient rooms features cherry-wood-like vinyl flooring, sleeper sofas in colorful, multi-colored prints, new lamps, tables and flat screen TVs with DVD players.

Carpeted hallways feature “lumicor” outside patient rooms, fresh signage and a mix of contemporary and traditional artwork.

Each of the 14 moved patients received a blanket throw with the hospital logo from Burgess and a rose from the hospital Auxiliary.

“It was a great day,” says Leggett. “We’re thrilled with our new addition.”