The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu held a groundbreaking ceremony today to begin work on its Emergency Department expansion project. Once completed, the project will more than triple the size of its current layout.
The expansion will include:
- Increasing the number of treatment rooms in the emergency department from 23 to 55
- An additional 48 patient rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the facility totaling 152 patient rooms
- Negative pressure technologies, including Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs) and High Energy Particulate Arrestors to ensure the safety of patients and caregivers
- Expanded acuity and condition-adaptable care spaces enabling care teams to deliver care more efficiently
- Dedicated spaces for patients with behavioral health needs, ensuring patient and caregiver safety
The current emergency department spans about 13,000 square feet. The new three-story building will provide an additional 77,800 square feet of patient care space for emergency and hospitalized patients. The layout is designed to enhance patient movement and time efficiency, enabling caregivers to provide high quality care with a seamless flow of services. The project will also include renovations to the existing Emergency Department and emergency preparedness preparation with expansion of on-site emergency power generation for the expanding Medical Center.
Currently, the Emergency Department at Queen’s-West is the second busiest in the state. Last year over 62,000 patients were treated in the Emergency Department, outgrowing the renovation completed in 2014.
The current emergency department spans about 13,000 square feet. The new three-story building will greatly increase that size to 40,884 square feet. The layout will also serve to move patients around more efficiently, enabling caregivers to provide high quality care with a seamless flow of services. In addition, the expansion project will also include renovations to the existing emergency department.
“We have projected that the demand for health care services in West Oahu will rise by about 5% each year,” said Jason Chang, President & Chief Executive Officer of The Queen’s Health Systems. “We need to keep pace with the expected growth of the central and west Oahu communities that we serve. We remain committed to the mission of our founders, Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV, of providing in perpetuity, quality health care services to improve the health and wellbeing of Native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawaii, and this new facility will help us achieve that.”
“Expanding our emergency department will increase access to life-saving services, while strengthening our commitment to provide high quality care that is easily accessible and seamless,” said Robin Kalohelani, RN, MSN/Ed CCM, FACHE, Vice President, Regional Operations Central & West Oahu, and Associate Chief Nursing Officer. “We are eager to begin this expansion project which will allow us to better care for our patients in an expanded setting designed to improve outcomes.”
The new facility is expected to be completed in November 2026. The entire expansion and renovation project is expected to be completed by summer 2027.
