BUFFALO, N.Y. — Saturday marked the official grand opening of ECMC's new trauma and emergency department.
ECMC held a ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday morning at ECMC's health campus on Grider Street in Buffalo. Saturday's event comes two years after officials broke ground on the expansion project.
The $55 million facility doubled the size of the existing trauma center and be able to accommodate the 75,000 patients that are expected each year by 2024.
It's 54,000 square feet and features 54 stations and a number of specialty rooms for things like isolation and behavioral health.
The ribbon cutting comes at a time when ECMC employees are seeing layoffs and furloughs due to mounting costs connected to the COVID-10 pandemic.
The Buffalo trauma hospital cited “disappointing” levels of federal funding assistance and continued expenses due to the virus.
Thomas Quatroche Jr., president and CEO, told workers in a weekly video message back in mid-May that the hospital would need to make $20 million in cuts this year to ensure its survival for the future.