If you’re driving on Elmwood Avenue by Strong Memorial Hospital, it would be hard to miss the 246-foot green crane in the sky near the emergency department.
This crane will be there for the next year or so as the University of Rochester Medical Center enters the first phase of its Strong Expansion Project. The crane will be used to help construct the hospital’s new nine-story tower, which will be adjacent to the current emergency department.
“We do not have enough treatment spaces in our emergency department,” said Kathy Parrinello, the hospital's president and CEO. “We have patients in hallways.”
Overcrowding at Strong has been a longtime issue, and the COVID-19 pandemic only made it worse. Parrinello said there's a pressing need to expand the emergency department.
“Patients wait far too long for a place to be treated and cared for, whereas we have staff ready and available to take care of them,” she said.
The project will quadruple the size of the hospital’s emergency department, adding more than 100 private inpatient rooms and more than 160 examination/treatment and observation stations.
After the tower is complete, Parrinello said the current emergency department will be remodeled as well. Officials said the entire project will be complete by 2028.
“It's a lot more than just construction,” Parrinello said. “It'll provide us with just enormous capability to better serve our community.”
