AHN Saint Vincent unveiled their new Clinical Decision Unit on Wednesday.


During a ribbon cutting with hospital and community leaders, the unit will be an extension of their Emergency Department.

It's located where the former Emergency Department used to be, before the new one opened in 2019.

The Clinical Decision Unit will have 24 beds and will provide jobs for 40 more people. This unit will allow patients who require more observation to see if a hospital stay is necessary or not. It will also minimize long wait times and streamline patient's experience and shorten their time in the Emergency Department.

Dr. Chris Clark, the President of AHN Saint Vincent said after years of planning and a year of construction they are excited to have it opened soon and described who this unit is geared to. "Patients that are not necessarily sick enough to go into the hospital for in-patient status, but are not well enough to go home yet, but need extra time. So we are targeting to use this space for patients that have an expected length of stay around 24 hours or less. We provide that additional level of care, management, diagnostic that are necessary to get them to feel better and to get them most likely home from this kind of setting", said Dr. Clark.

The new unit is set to open in the next several weeks and it will be a gradual opening of different rooms and stations.