Lots of Smiles at LakesideOmaha’s Newest Hospital Has Put a Happy Face on Health Care in the Area’s Booming Suburban West.Lakeside Hospital First-Year Numbers

Until last August, a typical medical emergency in Yutan, Neb., occupied the town’s volunteer rescue workers for at least 90 minutes.

That’s how long it took them to drive through heavy traffic and road construction to the nearest Omaha hospital and back.

Today the average run takes about 30 minutes. Unless patients request otherwise, Yutan’s rescue squad goes to Lakeside Hospital.

“It’s wonderful,” said Yutan Assistant Fire Chief Wendall Pascarelli. “It gets me back to work sooner.”

As Omaha’s newest hospital marks its first year in business, area emergency workers and many patients who live on Omaha’s western fringes are thankful for a hospital closer to home.

Several credit the hospital near 168th Street and West Center Road with speeding treatment for patients west of Interstate 680; getting rescue crews from areas like Yutan, Waterloo and southwest Omaha back in service faster; and putting a smile on the face of health care in western Douglas County.

Though its exact impact on competing health systems or rescue response times isn’t yet clear, Lakeside reports a bustling first year.

Cindy Alloway, the hospital’s chief operating officer, said larger-than-anticipated population growth in the area ringing the new hospital and better-thanexpected patient turnout helped Lakeside exceed its first-year targets. Its ER treated nearly 50 patients a day. Its 45 initial beds were full enough by November to prompt the early completion of an additional 32 patient rooms and two birthing suites in July.

Another surprise for owner Alegent Health: The majority of Lakeside’s patients were new customers.

Alegent leaders had expected Lakeside to draw patients from Alegent’s four other metropolitan-area hospitals — Immanuel and Bergan Mercy Medical Centers in Omaha, Midlands Hospital in Papillion and Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs — as some of its physicians moved their practices to the west.

But Alegent President Richard Hachten said an analysis of Lakeside’s first few thousand admissions found that only 8 percent were already Alegent allegiants. That meant 92 percent were either new to the area or regular patients of other health systems. Hachten said those numbers will fuel Alegent discussions this fall about what sort of second tower should go up at Lakeside and how soon it should be built.

The leader of one competing Omaha hospital said patient losses traceable to Lakeside have been minimal. Methodist Hospital CEO John Fraser said the only difference his central Omaha hospital noted was a decline of less than 2 percent in emergency room visits since Lakeside opened — not enough to hurt. And he said there has been no drop in the number of ER patients Methodist admitted, one sign that the sickest patients are still ending up in more established hospitals.

Fraser said Lakeside’s first-year experience and revised west Omaha population projections probably will be factors in Methodist’s westward expansion plans. But he declined to comment on when or what Methodist would build on land it owns near 192nd Street and West Dodge Road.

Nebraska Medical Center leaders, who have announced plans for an outpatient cancer clinic in 2006 and an eventual hospital at 180th and West Dodge Road, did not return calls for comment. Creighton University Medical Center CEO Phil Gustafson could not be reached.

Without prompting, visitors to the new hospital often rave about two things: its welcoming architecture and the cheerful demeanor of its staff.

“They are about the happiest ER in the city,” said Battalion Chief Mark Lane, emergency medical services chief for the Omaha Fire Department. “They’re the best to work with because they haven’t been overburdened with the downtrodden and with the understaffing, overcrowding situations most hospitals have to deal with.”

Mike Tefft, a 40-year-old Omahan who had four surgeries at Lakeside last year, agreed. “You can just tell when people are happy at their job,” he said.

Alloway said that’s by design. When hiring staff, she said, the hospital chose people focused on creating a happy, can-do culture.

That effort appears to be paying off. The hospital was the top performer for overall inpatient satisfaction, according to surveys of patients at 250 U.S. hospitals conducted last year by Omaha market research firm Professional Research Consultants.

Lakeside Hospital first-year numbers

Treated 15,564 patients in the ER* Completed 6,419 surgeries* Delivered 532 babies* Nearly doubled its capacity by adding 32 private rooms and two maternity suites Is in process of adding four more ICU rooms Received 61 percent of all transports made by Omaha’s westernmost rescue unit — Medic 56, stationed near 163rd and Pacific Streets***

*Aug. 2, 2004, to June 30, 2005 ***Aug. 1, 2004, to July 31, 2005

Sources: Alegent Health, Omaha Fire Department