VA St. Louis Health Care System

Newly remodeled shower in patient room on the 7North Unit at John Cochran were opened today for patient use.

 Today, Veteran inpatients at the St. Louis VA Medical Center moved into newly renovated rooms in the 7 North inpatient unit after a 16-month project to renovate some of the patient areas finished.
 The project involved completely renovated bathrooms, repainted walls, remodeled nursing stations and other enhancements. Previous renovated units include 6 North, and 7 South.
 “The wards, especially the bathrooms, really needed the renovation because some of them hadn’t been touched since the medical center was first built back in the 50’s,” said St. Louis VA Medical Center Chief Engineer Keith Repko. “We put in new fixtures, finishes and tiling, I really think the Veterans who have been here before will notice and appreciate the difference.”
 Nurses on the units worked with the Veteran inpatients last night to provide instructions on how the move would work and important contact information such as new phone numbers so family could keep in touch.
 “The patients are excited about the move,” said Pat Michaels, St. Louis VA Medical Center’s Acting Associate Chief Nurse. “Everything is brighter and the environment is more accommodating.”
 Sherry Jordan, wife of Army Veteran Larry Jordan, sat by her husband to make the move with him this morning. Both Larry and Sherry were pleased to be one of the first to occupy a newly renovated room.
 “This is a great improvement,” Sherry said. “The renovations liven things up and it does something for the patient to get into a room that feels new.”
 Beside the aesthetic touch-ups to improve the environment, Repko said the engineering staff used the opportunity to enhance some of the medical center’s patient safety features including installing new patient call light systems in each ward.
 “Any time we have an opportunity to improve the environment of care for our Veterans, we’re elated,” Repko said. “Call lights and tiling probably won’t earn any rave reviews from our patients, but I am hoping the Veterans will be more comfortable and feel better in their updated surroundings. It’s certainly what they deserve after the service they provided us.”
 By 11 a.m. Thursday morning, every patient was moved to their new room and the first impressions were made.
 “Looks real good, almost feels like I’m not in a hospital now,” quipped Larry Jordan. “Seriously though, I also want to thank the staff and the nurses who have been super through this whole thing.  They always keep their cool and give us special attention. There are some very special people here.”