Essentia Health-Fosston to Build New $12 Million Emergency Department Expansion

The emergency department at Essentia Health-Fosston will see significant construction in the near future as they finalize a new $12 million upgrade to the facility.

Having the only emergency center in nearly 20 miles, Essentia Health-Fosston sees their fair share of patients. That’s why they are building a whole new emergency department addition onto the hospital in the coming year. The hope is to create better access, have a safer environment, and help more patients at a time.

“We’ve outgrown our space,” explained Tanner Goodrich, Essentia Health Senior Vice President of Operations, West Market. “When you look at an emergency department, you look at the services that we’re able to provide. We think we would be able to better provide those services and accommodate the growth in a newer, larger space.”

The location does currently have an emergency department, but it’s only about 1,200 square feet and is located inside the facility. The new emergency department will be over 6,000 square feet and is going to be accessible from the outside.

“And this is about improving access, giving our providers, nurses, clinicians the ability to take better care of our patients—not necessary better care, but in a better space,” said Goodrich.

Creating this better space does not come cheap, as the hospital is anticipating this to be a $12 million project. Nor will it be a short process.

“We believe design will take four to six months and then the construction project obviously dealing with Minnesota winters, and we’re a little bit dependent on on that,” Goodrich explained. “But we anticipate after design and construction to probably be in that 12 to 18 month time frame.”

Emergency health care can be crucial. And while there is an existing emergency department at Essentia Fosston, the hope of the new construction is to create a bigger, safer, and more efficient center. One of the biggest things that the hospital is looking forward to is having more space better suited for patients needing behavioral health care.

“Maybe unfortunately, we’re seeing more behavioral health care coming into the emergency departments,” added Goodrich. “And so we think it’s important to be able to have a space, that improves our ability to take care of patients that are here in a behavioral health crisis as well.”

The project will also provide Essentia Health-Fosston with an EMS garage called a sally port, which they do not currently have. The port will help with emergency transportation to and from the hospital.