Duncan Wing Wows Gathering of 1,000
Alton Memorial Hospital celebrates ribbon cutting for new patient wing

About 1,000 people attended the ribbon cutting and grand opening of Alton Memorial Hospital's new Duncan Wing, the 89,000-square-foot bed tower.

 "The Duncan Wing is absolutely stunning," says Paul Lauschke, chairman, Alton Memorial Health Services Foundation. "When you come up the driveway, it is just the most beautiful building. And now everyone sees how beautiful it is inside."
 
But it's more than just looks. The Duncan Wing has 76 private inpatient rooms equipped with the latest patient care technology. The Hospital's Surgical Care Unit (12 beds), Intermediate Care Unit (32 beds) and Medical Care Unit (32 beds) will be moved into the new wing by the end of March. Six observation rooms also will be available on the ground floor. Each room is set up to enhance patient safety, including fewer steps to the bathroom and patient visibility to nurses from the hallway.
 
Patient lifts are in every inpatient room and Patient Touch Technology, the very latest in patient education, is at every bedside. The educational tool is unique to every patient and is activated by touching a computer screen to receive specific information on medical conditions as well as information about area weather, restaurants and hotels.

"This is a very important day for BJC and for Alton Memorial Hospital," says Steve Lipstein, president and CEO of BJC. "The Duncan Wing includes just about everything we know about health care at BJC. I applaud everyone at Alton Memorial who worked so hard to make this day possible."

Alton Memorial President Dave Braasch, who has worked at the Hospital for 30 years and served as president since 2007, says the Duncan Wing is the continuation of a legacy that began when Eunice Smith and her sister, Ellen Hatch, provided the land for the original Hospital in the 1930s.

"The Duncan family continues the promise of the Smith family for providing the best health care in the area," says Braasch. "Health care is certainly different now than it was 70 years ago. But it boils down to people taking care of people. That's the history of Alton Memorial Hospital and that's the future of Alton Memorial Hospital. I thank everyone for being here to celebrate both our past and our future."

Alton Mayor Tom Hoechst thanked Alton Memorial and BJC for providing so many construction jobs during the past two years and pointed out that Alton Memorial is among the city's largest employers.

"When people consider moving to a community they look at the crime rate, the schools and health care," says Hoechst. "The Duncan Wing ensures that Alton has a facility that should attract the best physicians."

"It's unbelievable that was only two years ago," says Sandra Van Trease, BJC group president. "At our community hospitals it's all about neighbors providing care for neighbors. And now the neighbors in Alton have a new front door for that care."

The ceremony began at 2 p.m. in the Alton Memorial cafeteria before a standing-room-only crowd. It moved outside for a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony, with Braasch helping Kathleen Duncan cut the ribbon. Duncan, 94, and her family sold artwork in an auction more than two years ago to help the Hospital's "Building the Best Care Close to Home" capital campaign exceed its $3 million goal. In November 2008, it was announced that the new addition would be named the Duncan Wing.

Sandy Lauschke and George Milnor were the co-chairs of the capital campaign committee. At the ribbon cutting, they announced the campaign total has since inched closer to $3.9 million.

The community was invited to the ribbon cutting with each visitor receiving a cube featuring various photos representative of Alton Memorial Hospital's past, present and future. Following the ribbon cutting, guests were welcomed inside for self-guided tours of the Duncan Wing and plenty to eat from the Alton Memorial cafeteria. A brief ceremony dedicated the piano in the Hutchinson Lobby in memory of longtime White Cross Auxiliary Board member and volunteer Anna Beach, who passed away in 2008. Beach was the mother of Alton Memorial volunteer coordinator Irene McLaughlin. Beach's niece, Gigi Darr, is pianist for the Ralph Butler Trio, which performed during the ceremony. The first selection was Anna Beach's favorite song, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."

The Duncan Wing, featuring free valet service, also will be the central starting point for patient registration. An outpatient lab/EKG area is just off the Hutchinson Lobby. This process improvement allows a patient coming in for procedures to have them completed quickly and very close to the main entrance. The building also houses an inpatient physical therapy area, laboratory, inpatient pharmacy and a large radiology reception area. The inpatient pharmacy and lab moved into the Duncan Wing before the ribbon cutting.
 
The Hospital is reviewing the possibility of transforming a portion of the vacated space to a health education institute to increase and improve professional and community health education services.