Saint Agnes Medical Center launches fundraising campaign to expand emergency department

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Saint Agnes Medical Center is looking to upgrade its emergency department.

"It'll be over 40,000 square feet, which is bigger than our current Emergency Department and it'll be designed in a way that expands our department as a whole," Chief Development Officer Sara Fraunenheim said.

The emergency department has been remodeled several times but Frauenheim says expansion is what's needed now to better help people in need of acute care.

"We're looking at private spaces, we're looking at vertical beds. When our patients come in, they come in at different levels of acuity," Frauenheim said. "We want to make sure we're able to meet every patient, at every level."

The hospital will soon launch its Emergency Department campaign, which will help raise funds for the new facility plan.

Frauenheim says it's a project that's been in the works for quite some time.

"We have recently been funded by Trinity Health, our partner, at $150 million. $20 million of that is a commitment that we're making to partner with the community to raise funds to support the project," Frauenheim said.

The current emergency department was built in the early 2000s. It's long, narrow and can only see up to 50,000 patients a year.

With more and more patients coming in for treatment, the ED has outgrown its current size.

"We are broaching 90,000 visits a year and growing. So the department, not only is the space not functional as a linear structure, but also it's not meeting the needs as far as the number of visits we're seeing annually," Frauenheim said.

The hospital plans to break ground on the project in 2026, with the goal of opening in 2029.

Anyone who wants to donate to the fundraising campaign can click here.

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