Take Care STL

Saint Louis University Hospital is set to begin a 16- to 18-week expansion of its emergency department this February, officials announced earlier today.

The $1.5 million project will add five new rooms, a nurse station and a workplace.

Dr. Laurie Byrne, director of emergency medicine at Saint Louis University, said in a statement that the much-anticipated expansion will give patients more privacy and allow the department, which currently treats about 100 cases per day, to treat more patients. Patient volume has risen by more than 10,000 patients over the past decade to more than 39,000 patients in 2012, including more than 2,300 trauma cases.