Jackson Memorial Hospital gave a first look inside its brand-new emergency room, which will make it one of the largest in the country. The 178,000-square-foot facility is designed to double capacity and reduce wait times as part of a major upgrade to emergency care services in Miami. On Thursd ay, the hospital offered a sneak peek at the emergency room, which one of the directors said has been a long time coming. “I think the community is going to be very happy. I think that they’re gonna be proud to get their services here at JMH,” said Daniel Aguiar, director of nursing – emergency services. The new emergency department will have 57 observation rooms and will be double the size of their current facility. “Looking forward to a new era of emergency care here at JMH,” said Aguiar. Hospital officials also emphasized that the new facility will go a long way toward reducing wait times for patients. “It’s really about delivering the excellence of Jackson into our community, it’s a $400 million investment to our community, and we’re happy to bring this to fruition,” said Aguiar. During Thursday’s preview, Miami-Dade College nursing students were invited to get a close look at the renovations and took part in an exclusive “Day in the Life” training. For the training, students simulated the role of patients in a practice exercise to help the hospital’s clinical and support staff practice real-world situations ahead of the emergency room’s opening day. “Being able to upgrade this facility that can really give 21st-century level medical care is really exciting,” said Timothy Tan, the chief of emergency medicine. Tan told 7News he feels very privileged to contribute to the community as he leads the department to its next steps. “We’re taking this as an opportunity to change a lot of things; we were constrained in our old ER with a lot of our processes, so we’re looking at our processes, changing them around,” said Tan. Among the changes to be implemented is moving the doctor from being one of the last people patients see to being one of the first. Tan added that the makeover offers an opportunity to transform the hospital’s culture. “The old space is near and dear to many people’s hearts, but it’s also – it’s not the environment that is necessarily conducive to healing, and we want to change the culture of the way that we are thinking of emergency medicine,” said Tan. Hospital officials say the transition to the new emergency department will be seamless when it launches on April 23. ...read more read less