With the projected growth in patient volume and community-based specialty care, especially in orthopedics with the New England Baptist Orthopedic Program, AJH is expanding to prepare. 
AJH will build two new, large operating rooms to house leading-edge surgical technology and accommodate larger surgical teams. Pre-operative and recovery areas will expand from 16 to 28 bays to address increased volume, improve patient privacy, and include a separate pediatric area to better serve the needs of local families.
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The project will also create a new and enlarged main entrance for improved access to hospital departments. The new main entrance will connect directly to the Virginia A. Capolupo Outpatient Entrance, which will be significantly enhanced by the addition of an elevator and an inviting open stairway to the main floor of the hospital. 
 
The new and unified entrances will maintain the historic look and feel of the hospital and preserve and improve outside landscaping and seating for the enjoyment of our patients, visitors, and staff. In honor of their service to AJH and our community, the new main hospital entrance will be named the Helen and Byron J. Matthews Main Entrance. 
“I’ve always said that this was the greatest hospital for the region. I think that the importance of our hospital is in the fact that it’s been here one hundred years or more….These are all being done for our people so we have to provide them with the best knowledge and the best doctors and everything else that concerns medical health.”
  • Byron Matthews, AJH Board of Trustee Member
 
“People have a very high expectation level. They not only want great medical care, but they want the whole experience. The expansion project is focused primarily on the operating room expansion. It will also add two new operating rooms. The reconfigured entrance is going to enhance the patient experience in a number of ways, most notably it’s going to be clearer to patients and guests as to where they are and how to get to different aspects of the hospital.”
  • Wayne Capolupo, AJH Board of Trustee Member & Building Committee Member