Emergency Department and Main Entrance Renovation Project

Project Summary

Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) is modernizing its emergency department and hospital main entrance to address overcrowding, operational flow, and wayfinding on its campus. The project will expand the currently undersized department, reconfigure the main entrance to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and nearby hospital department and include parking and access road improvements.

The current Emergency Department was designed in the mid-1990s to accommodate 12,000 patients per year, and that number now averages 24,000 per year. The project will double the square footage of the department and includes the expanded presence of teleEmergency services in coordination with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. The extended emergency department will have eighteen (18) treatment spaces, an increase of two (2) from the current sixteen (16) treatment spaces. The project includes expansion of the mental health crisis care area to include five (5) treatment spaces.

Recent News

Nov. 24, 2021 | Website Launched for ED Renovation and Expansion

Nov. 12, 2021 | SVHC Embraces "Green" Demolition

Read More News

Illustrated Designs

The front main entrance features a patient drop-off, a separate entrance to the emergency department, and connectors to ExpressCare and medical office building.

The front entrance includes a carport for patient drop-off. The proposed traffic flow and parking plan separates public traffic and parking away from ambulance routes and emergency department docking.

All treatment spaces will be constructed with three hard, sound-proof walls and retractable hand-wave activated doors to minimize infection transmission. 

A centralized care team collaboration space will be positioned in direct line-of-sight to exam rooms and treatment spaces for high-acuity medical patients.

The Emergency Department project involves a combination of renovation and new construction, and nearly doubles its square footage.

Parking Map

Click to enlarge and print

Photo Gallery

• Show All
• Site Work
• Demo
• Construction

Project Timeline

• December 23, 2020 - Vermont's Green Mountain Care Board approves project.
• Late Fall 2021 – Demolition of Lodge building and campus site work for temporary main entrance and future main access road
• Early Winter 2022 – Redevelop Ambulance Entrance
• Mid-Winter 2022 – Transition to temporary main entrance and close current entrance
• Late Winter 2022 through Summer 2022 – Begin exterior construction of new main entrance
• Summer 2022 through Fall 2022 – Construct Toolan Connector from ExpressCare to new main entrance
• Summer 2022 through Winter 2023 – Construction on new main addition interior (emergency department and lobby)
• Fall 2022 through Winter 2023 – Construction of new main entrance canopy and atrium
• Spring 2023 through Fall 2023 – Renovate existing emergency department
• Early 2024 – Grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony