1/16/2024
FARRELL, Pa. — UPMC Horizon-Shenango Valley located in Farrell, Pa., will soon begin work on a more than $1 million expansion project in the Emergency Department (ED) that will add five additional beds, providing greater capacity to offer the most accessible emergency medical care for residents in Mercer and Lawerence counties.
“When demand for UPMC services increases, we prioritize and we respond to the needs of our community,” said Beth Piccione, M.D., president, UPMC Horizon and UPMC Jameson. “People arrive at our hospitals in all forms of medical distress, and our skilled physicians and staff possess the knowledge and the resources to provide the highest levels of care for their needs.”
There is substantial demand for UPMC’s care in this region, with a continued increase in patient volume at its EDs. UPMC Horizon-Shenango Valley’s ED volume has grown by nearly 15% annually in recent years.
“Today’s announcement is about increasing access to the essential, lifesaving care our community needs as residents continue to put their trust in the unique expertise of UPMC,” Piccione continued.
“It was actually not long ago that we transformed this ED to add more beds and, already, another expansion is needed,” she said. “In 2018, we completed a $4.5 million construction project that added seven beds to the emergency department.”
The 2018 ED expansion added 7,000 square feet of space by leveraging non-clinical adjacent space in the hospital. In 2024, approximately 1,300 square feet of space and five more beds will be added to existing space that will be converted into clinical space.
In 2023, UPMC staff cared for approximately 21,000 patients at the UPMC Horizon-Shenango Valley ED, representing a 13% increase in volume from 2022.
“The Emergency Department expansion at UPMC Horizon is part of a multifaceted plan to expand services across the UPMC Horizon and UPMC Jameson network of care and to ensure more people have access to critical resources locally,” said Joel Yuhas, executive vice president, UPMC, and president, UPMC Health Services Division. “UPMC has been strongly committed to meeting the needs of the community as demands and preferences evolve. It is a privilege to deliver and improve access to UPMC’s nationally ranked, best-in-class care.”
The expansion project will streamline care, reduce wait times and best support staff with the space and capacity to deliver high-quality care and experiences.
“Our goals are to reduce wait times in the Emergency Department, ensure people who come to UPMC Horizon continue to have a positive experience and better support our first responders in Mercer and neighboring counties by adding additional and necessary capacity,” Yuhas said.
If highly advanced specialty care is needed, UPMC has robust systems in place to facilitate seamless transfers to hospitals like UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, UPMC Passavant-McCandless in the North Hills or UPMC Jameson for 24/7 interventional cardiology.