Close to celebrating eight decades of history in 2024, the Emergency Hospital (HPS) has departments recognized for excellence in service, such as the burns ICU, awarded by the Ministry of Health, and the pediatric ICU. Now, the hospital is starting an expansion project budgeted at R$140 million, with the aim of further improving health services in the Capital.
“The Emergency Hospital stands out as the highest reference in the State in cases of trauma, receiving the majority of victims of traffic accidents, falls, burns and serious trauma in general, whether from Porto Alegre, the Metropolitan Region and other municipalities gauchos”, highlights the municipal secretary of Health, Fernando Ritter.
The institution has a thousand employees and carries out, on average, 120 thousand services per year. In 2022 alone, there were more than 160 thousand exams and 2.3 thousand hospitalizations. “It is a hospital that specializes in solving the most complex cases, and this expansion project seeks to further improve its performance for patients, doctors, nurses and employees”, adds Ritter.
Changes for the expansion project have already begun on Avenida José Bonifácio, behind the hospital. Five houses were demolished, the land on which will be used in the work. With the yard clean, the city hall is preparing for the next stage, which includes contracting the executive project for expanding the hospital and subsequent bidding.
An analysis of the terrain conditions, applicable legislation and planialtimetric survey will be carried out, in addition to a vegetation cover report and definitions of the project concept and architectural layout. This stage also includes the characterization of all materials for the new building and construction elements and details of everything necessary to carry out the work.
“We are making the final adjustments to completely define the needs program, with the purpose of starting the execution of the expansion at the beginning of next year, and completing it by December 2026”, projects the general director of HPS, Tatiana Breyer.
Enlargement
The new structure will have eight floors on a plot of 11 thousand square meters of expanded area, with 130 new beds, which will be added to the 85 existing in the current structure. The expansion complies with Resolution 50, of the Ministry of Health, according to which new constructions must meet the principles of accessibility and quality of care provided to the population.
Patient reception will not change with the changes. All assistance services must take place in the new building, and the historic building will undergo readjustments to better distribute non-assistance areas, such as the warehouse, changing room and assets.
Modernization
In the last two years, the HPS has received important improvements, such as renovation and modernization of the pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the new pediatric trauma ward and the acquisition of equipment in different sectors.
The structural reform of the pediatric area allowed the opening of seven trauma ward beds and maintained eight intensive beds. Improvements included air conditioning, installation of an isolation bed, construction of children’s play rooms and family interview. The compressed air system that serves the entire hospital was also replaced, saving 600,000 liters of water per month.
HPS acquired 48 electric beds, replacing old and worn ones. 20 multi-parameterization monitors were also purchased, with a monitoring center capable of allowing viewing of all monitors. The equipment is used in two ICU units, with 20 beds. Improvements will be made to the roof, preventing infiltrations that occur in sensitive areas of the hospital.
Emergency Hospital – New eight-story building
Ground floor
– Outpatient clinic; SDI; morgue; central resonance of medical gases; hot water and steam plant; support and waste services;
2nd walk
– Adult hospitalization unit; 30 beds; rooms with bathroom and respiratory isolation;
3rd walk
– Adult hospitalization unit; 30 beds; rooms with bathroom and respiratory isolation;
4th walk
– Adult hospitalization unit; 30 beds; rooms with bathroom and respiratory isolation;
5th walk
– Burns treatment center; 20 beds and procedure room;
6th walk
– Adult intensive care unit with 20 beds;
7th walk
– Health teaching and innovation unit and realistic simulation laboratory;
8th walk
– Education and training center.
Streamline Health
Last August, during the launch of the Agiliza Saúde program, Mayor Sebastião Melo and Secretary Fernando Ritter announced R$18 million for renovations and purchase of equipment to improve the structure of the service itself and foresee actions to minimize the impacts of overcrowding in emergencies and , consequently, the queue of specialties. More than 300 pieces of equipment will be purchased, with emphasis on a 64-channel CT scanner, vital signs monitors, anesthesia carts, digital mobile X-rays, bone drills, ultrasound devices and surgical tables.
In a constant movement to renew the technology park, HPS had already acquired several devices, such as a high-flow nasal catheter for improvements in ventilatory therapy, two universal lung ventilators and a non-invasive ventilation device. It also purchased supplies for pelvic surgery, an area in which the hospital is a reference, to improve care for trauma patients.
