Medical Center Moves Emergency Room

With a $1.3-million renovation now underway, South Coast Medical Center has relocated the hospital’s emergency room until year’s end.

Emergency patients will now be seen in an area previously designated for same-day surgeries. Signs have been erected to redirect patients to the area, which is on the hospital’s main floor.

“They’re ready for patients,” spokeswoman Maggie Baumann said Wednesday.

South Coast Medical Center’s emergency department handles about 25,000 cases a year, according to a statement issued by the hospital.

The expansion and renovation will include providing separate entrances for ambulances and walk-in patients, an isolation treatment room for patients with potentially contagious diseases and a private room where families can meet with physicians, the statement said.