Construction began this week on a new $4.3 million inpatient Cardiac/Stroke Care unit at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.

The 12,950-square-foot unit is being built on the now-vacant third floor of the medical center’s Schoellkopf Building and will replace a 40-year-old telemetry unit on the hospital’s fourth floor. The unit will feature 25 private rooms, including six higher acuity step-down rooms for patients who require a more acute level of care and monitoring. A rehabilitation therapy facility will be located on the unit to encourage quicker patient recovery and avoid the need to transport patients to the medical center’s first floor physical therapy department.

Construction will take about a year to complete.

This marks the second major construction project to begin at Memorial in October. Work began earlier this month on a $2.2 million cardiac catheterization laboratory in The Heart Center of Niagara – a collaborative initiative being undertaken in conjunction with Catholic Health, Erie County Medical Center Corp. and Kaleida Health. The projects are major components of a Full Circle of Heart Care program for Niagara County that begins with education and prevention, actively seeks treatment breakthroughs and promotes best practices in care.

Niagara Falls Memorial was the first Niagara County medical center to be designated as a stroke center by the New York State Department of Health and has been recognized several times by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association for its success in using Get With The Guidelines® to improve quality of care for heart disease and stroke patients.

Most recently, the medical center received the 2016 Get With the Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award, which recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Pictured: From left, Stroke Center Medical Director Dr. Nyathappa Anand; Stroke Clinical Coordinator Alicia Scott, RN, MSN, ANP-C; Mike Ryan of Telco Construction; Chief of Cardiology Dr. Sachin Wadhawan; Cardiology Services Director Melissa Rackmil, RN, BSN; and Nurse Manager Janet Kundl, RN review plans for the new $4.3 million inpatient Cardiac/Stroke Care unit at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.