Ridgewood's Valley Hospital moving to new facility in Paramus in April
PARAMUS, N.J. -- A Bergen County hospital will soon have a new home.
The Valley Hospital has been in Ridgewood for more than 70 years. In April, the hospital will move to a different location.
Gov. Phil Murphy joined hospital officials and local and state lawmakers Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the hospital's new location in Paramus. The state-of-the-art facility opens to patients on Sunday, April 14.
"They are going to be receiving a level of care that sets the standard across this state and maybe even across the country," Valley Healthy System President Robert Brenner said.
The project coordinator says they sought staff input when planning the 370-bed hospital. Emergency exam rooms, she says, were guided by COVID-19 lessons -- sliding doors instead of curtains to prevent germs and more oxygen outlets for critical care.
The facility also has private neonatal intensive care units, where parents can spend the night with their babies.
The single-occupancy patient rooms come with many gadgets, including a stock room accessible from the outside.
"Any kind of equipment that the staff might need for the patient," project coordinator Debbie Alutto said.
One of the more interesting features of the adult care rooms is AI technology using a sensor to prevent patient falls.
"What it does is it makes a stick figure out of the patient and it will alarm the nurses if it detects movements that are indicating getting out of the bed or a potential fall," Brenner said.
The hospital has been planning the move from Ridgewood to Paramus for a year, even doing a test run to make sure patients are safely transported.
"We have about 65 ambulances planned for that morning," said Karteek Bhavsar, Valley Health System vice president and chief operating officer. "We'll be safely treating patients on both campuses until the very last patient leaves."
The Ridgewood campus isn't going anywhere. Officials say it will be used as an outpatient facility for services like imaging.
The new Paramus hospital comes with more outdoor space and features Stefan Knapp panels that once graced the iconic Alexander's department store.
Officials say they took every detail into consideration, even choosing Sunday to move because of Bergen County's blue laws. They say there will be less traffic.