Memorial celebrates groundbreaking for new emergency department, heart center

by Ralph Schwarz
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, May 20, 2004

Federal, state and local dignitaries joined representatives from the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center last Monday for groundbreaking ceremonies of the new emergency department and the Heart Center of Niagara.

"This is one of the grandest celebration in the history of the Memorial Medical Center and the greater Niagara community," said Memorial President and CEO Joseph Ruffolo of the $15 million facility to be constructed at the corner of 10th Street and Walnut Avenue in downtown Niagara Falls.

"A lot of people thought we were sniffing Disney dust a year-and-a-half ago when the Memorial team made a conscious decision to become the leading community hospital, not just in Niagara County but also in the state of New York," he said.

With Niagara County having the highest mortality rate stemming from heat diseases in the United States, Ruffolo and his team realized that the creation of a center for emergency medicine and cardiac care became a necessity rather than an option.

"Today marks a giant step in our journey, doing what needs to be done to make Niagara a much healthier community," he said.

State-Of-Art Facility

The 48,000-square-foot, two-story building will house a state-of-the-art emergency department on the first floor, replacing the aging facilities inside the Medical Center. The new department will feature bedside monitors, adult and pediatric crash carts, portable ventilators and EKG machines, and a paperless clinical ER computer system designed to speed incoming patients through the admission and treatment process.

"Emergency room physicians know they gain a tremendous advantage when their patients receive top-notch care before they arrive at the hospital," Ruffolo said, recognizing the members the county's emergency services -- fire, police and ambulance -- who play an important role in delivering quality health care.

The Heart Center of Niagara, which is currently located on the ground floor of the Medical Center, will occupy the second floor of the new facility. Along with the diagnosis and non-invasive treatment of patients suffering from acute or chronic heart disease, the Heart Center will concentrate on research and education with the goal of dramatically reducing the rate of cardiac disease in the Greater Niagara community.

Prevention Through Education

Under the direction of Dr. Michael Merhige, a Mayo-clinic trained cardiologist, procedures at the Heart Center will focus on the prevention and reversal of heart disease by using positron emission tomography to assess the extent of coronary disease. Merhige's treatment regimen involves a complete lifestyle change, including medication, diet and exercise, to reverse and prevent heart disease.

"[We want to make] this the safest community in the United States to suffer a heart attack," Merhige said.

New equipment for the Heart Center will include ultrasound imaging units and a non-invasive CT angiography system designed to supplement PET scan technology already in use at the hospital.

The Heart Center will also house Memorial's already existing cardio/pulmonary rehabilitation program, which will be upgraded with the latest in exercise and monitoring equipment.

"The new emergency room and Heart Center will be a historic development not just for Niagara County, but the entire Buffalo-Niagara region," said U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter who led the dignitaries attending the groundbreaking ceremony.

Great Humanitarian Project

Niagara County Legislator Chairman Bill Ross called the construction of the new facility a great humanitarian project.

"It also is a privilege to see how the various levels of government can work together when there's a project that benefits our entire Niagara community," Ross said.

Even before the actual capital campaign to raise funds to program and equip the new facility began in mid-February, the hospital had already received a $1 million federal grant from U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, two $400,000 state grants from state Sen. George Maziarz and state Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, a $300,000 grant from Niagara County, and $900,000 from estate gifts and donations toward its campaign goal of $5 million.

Immediately following the ceremonial groundbreaking, Capital Campaign Chairman Craig Avery and Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who serves as the campaign's honorary chairman, blew a whistle to signal an excavating machine to begin demolition of a two-story house located on the future site of the new medical building. Accompanied by sirens and lights from the emergency vehicles on location and a Mercy Flight helicopter flyover, the excavator leveled the house to make room for additional parking space at the new facility, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 2005.