Forbes Hospital Unveils Major ICU Expansion

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It's been 18 months since Forbes Hospital was accredited as a "Level Two Trauma Center."

Since then, its resources have been called upon on countless occasions, including some high-profile incidents like the Franklin Regional stabbings and the recent Monroeville Mall shooting.

Today, they unveiled a major expansion of the ICU at Forbes Hospital.

The $9 million facility is just about ready to start accepting and caring for some of the sickest and most in need patients.

The new intensive care unit is being described as the heart of the trauma center at Forbes Hospital.

"Now with our new ICU, the patients who come and their families will see the level of commitment of our system, of our leadership, to our trauma center," Trauma Medical Director Dr. Christoph Kaufmann said.

It took just under a year to get the 20-bed, state-of-the-art ICU up and running and it was a local traumatic incident that catapulted the expansion.

"What really galvanized us, although it had been in our thoughts beforehand, was the events on April the 9th, with Franklin Regional. On April the 10th, we set our minds to get this done by March 2015," Forbes Hospital President & CEO Reese Jackson said.

"Major improvement and we are now able to handle pretty much all patients who would come through our emergency room," ICU Medical Director Dr. Michael Hansen said.

The ICU at Forbes will start accepting patients in about a week - patients with severe medical issues, post and pre surgery and the most critically injured.

The facility is part of a $36 million investment strategy and the Highmark Health President and CEO says the commitment to Forbes is about serving the community.

"We want to make sure that the capability is here. We want to make sure the resources are here for the people in this region because they need it. They need us to be there," David Holmberg said.

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