Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown will soon have a new maternity ward. Hospital officials are planning a $10 million expansion that they say will address the changing needs of the community.
The hospital is now moving forward with their plan to transform the inside of that building into a wing of the hospital with its own entrance. The third floor will be devoted to a pediatric center and a new maternity ward.
Samaritan Medical Center's CEO, Thomas Carman, says this means women in labor will have easier access to the hospital.
“Right now when a woman is coming through the hospital she may have to come through the main entrance or through the emergency department and when she does that she needs to find an elevator to make it up to the maternity ward. Especially at night that can be a hard passage to transverse through," he said.
According to Carman, half of the babies Samaritan delivers are Fort Drum babies and a quarter of their total patients are military. The second floor of the building will serve as a new mental health inpatient facility.
Hospital officials still need to work out a few kinks in the plan. Members of the Watertown city planning board say they won’t approve construction until the hospital creates new parking spaces. Carman says their hospital officials are working with engineers to build a new parking lot.
“When its all said and done we should have enough parking spaces,” Carman said.
Three vacant homes adjacent to the hospital will be torn down to make way for additional parking for patients and visitors. The Watertown Planning Board will likely vote to approve expanding Samaritan Medical Center in March.