Akron Children’s Hospital broke ground on a $31 million construction project at its Boardman campus on Market St. last week.
      The ACH/Boardman campus will expand its emergency department from 9,600 square feet to 34,700 square feet when construction is completed. When completed, the capital improvements will provide the hospital with six additional treatment rooms, bringing the total to 23. There will also be two, new behavioral health needs-based treatment rooms, as well as a second triage room.
      The ACH/Boardman campus received a $1 million gift from Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream chairman, Lenny Fisher, to help fund the work. The hospital will rename Building A on its campus in honor of Fisher.
      The hospital expects construction to be completed in spring 2023.
      “I am pleased to support such an important initiative in the Mahoning Valley,” Fisher said, adding “The health of our children is so important, especially in today’s climate. And providing support for the emergency department, which has seen explosive growth, is a way that we can help impact the community for generations to come.”
      Since the opening of the Beeghly campus in December, 2008 there have been over 348,000 visits to the hospital’s emergency department.
      The current facility has the capacity to see 80 patients per day, but the department regularly cares for well above that almost daily.
      “The need to expand this department is critical,” said Grace Wakulchik, ACH president and CEO.
      “Our expanded emergency department is a major investment in the Mahoning Valley community and continues to build on the commitment we began when we opened the campus in 2008,” said Paul Olivier, vice president of ACH/Mahoning Valley.