Patient Move Day a success for Palos Community Hospital

Gary Daggett received an early birthday present Sunday, March 24, from Palos Community Hospital.

Daggett was the first of 120 people transferred from the St. George Pavilion to the Hospitaller Pavilion during Patient Move Day.

“It went smooth,” Daggett said. “They had all their ducks in a row.”

A few minutes after 7 a.m., a hospital team transferred Daggett, of Orland Park, to a private patient room in the Hospitaller Pavilion. Nurses clapped as he arrived on the third floor and David Manchester, vice president of Professional Services, welcomed him with a keepsake blanket given to all patients during the move.

“It is really gratifying to see how enthusiastic the staff is and how accommodating the patients have been with the move,” Manchester said.

Daggett was impressed with the privacy of the patient rooms and said it would “help in the healing process”

“I always felt like I was encroaching on the other patient when my family would visit,” he said.

Months of planning went into creating a successful Patient Move Day. The staff went through a simulated move in February to prepare them for various situations that could arise during the process.

On move day, a Command Center was established to monitor the patient transfer from each nursing unit. Inside the room, staff remained calm and focused as they directed transporters to move the patients, who were transported indoors from the St. George Pavilion to the Hospitaller Pavilion about every two minutes. Units relocated include Telemetry, Oncology, Medical/Surgical and Intensive Care.

The last patient was moved at 11:41 a.m., completing Patient Move Day in less than five hours.

Jill Beechler, assistant vice president of Cardiovascular Services and Telemetry and chairperson of the Patient Move Committee, said the move went even better than expected.

“This is a great team effort by many, many people,” she said. “The feedback from patients has been outstanding, which is our main concern.”

One of those patients is Maria Sadelska, of Tinley Park, who was amazed by the professionalism and kindness of the staff.

Sadelska said it was almost too much for her to take in when she arrived to the Hospitaller Pavilion.

“She started crying when she first came here because everyone was so nice in greeting her, from the doctors to the nurses,” said her granddaughter Kathy Repa.

The move to the Hospitaller Pavilion also received a positive review from Elsie Meisnest, of Chicago Ridge. “The doctors said I should be as comfortable as possible and I was.”

The Hospitaller Pavilion is a welcomed addition to Palos Community Hospital, adding 400,000 square feet to the campus. From the Center for Short Stay Care and 14 operating suites and advanced procedure rooms to the 192 private patient rooms and state-of-the-art Intensive Care Unit, the Hospitaller Pavilion houses some of the most advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies in the southwest suburbs.

The pavilion officially opened March 19 and surgeries are scheduled for this week in the new operating suites. The Patient Move Day is the last of many milestones in bringing the Hospitaller Pavilion to reality. 

With the Hospitaller Pavilion fully operational, modernization of the St. George Pavilion will begin this summer. The Phase 2 plan includes remodeling of original patient rooms to match those in the Hospitaller Pavilion, development of a Breast Health Center, and a Cardio-Pulmonary unit, relocation of the Cardiology intake area and expansion of the Emergency Department.