Photograph courtesy of SSM St. Mary's
SSM St. Mary’s Health Center is parting with a big chunk of change—$23 million, to be exact—to improve health care at its site in Richmond Heights.
Part of that money went to upgrading the facilities, including patient suites, emergency rooms, the cardiology cath lab, the cardiovascular recovery unit, and the Family Birthplace. SSM St. Mary’s is also continuing to convert its patient rooms to all-private suites and is working to improve the exterior aesthetics of the building.
The Vascular Access Center at SSM St. Mary’s also opened in mid-July, providing a more convenient mode of treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease—widely known as kidney failure. According to St. Mary’s, there are about 15,000 patients with kidney failure in the St. Louis area. Before the center opened, patients had to deal with doctors in multiple locations. The Vascular Access Center, however, caters to patients’ needs to coordinate with multiple physicians.
“We’re being proactive about the care for those patients and providing an appropriate level of care at a more appropriate level of cost,” says Bill Jennings, president of SSM St. Mary’s Health Center.
Premier healthcare alliance recently recognized St. Mary’s as one of 21 hospitals nationwide for commitment to high-quality patient care. And with the Vascular Access Center, the hospital aims to build on that success.
“First of all, [opening the center is] the right thing to do to help our patients improve their care and to improve the standards of care in the entire community,” says Jennings. “There is a real need, and it’s part of our mission to meet this community need and to improve the community’s health.”
