The Big Move: MVHS Reveals Plan to Move Patients to Wynn Hospital

The countdown has been reduced from years to months. Progress continues on construction of the new Wynn Hospital in downtown Utica and remains on track to open in October of this year.

When it does, a heavily coordinated plan will be executed to relocate patients from the Mohawk Valley Health System's (MVHS) St. Elizabeth and St. Luke's campuses to the new state-of-the-art facility, says Bob Scholefield, the hospital system's executive vice president of facilities and real estate.

"There is a company that we've hired called Health Care Relocations, they are a worldwide firm and their sole role is to help relocate equipment, supplies, and build the plan for removing patients from the two campuses and bringing them to the Wynn Hospital," Scholefield said.

"It will be a one-day event, and it was be an extraordinarily well orchestrated process where patients are arriving from the two facilities all day, about six to eight at a time. We need to make sure we have the right mix of staff at all locations. Over the course of 12-15 hours, that [patient moving] process will occur."

The exact date of the move is to be determined and won't come for several more months.

The plan calls for 'significant public communication' in advance to ensure the community is aware of the plan, Scholefield said. That includes coordination with first responders and ambulance companies to avoid a situation where a patient is transported to an emergency room at a closed hospital, he said.

While speaking with WIBX 950, Scholefield also noted this winter's mild start has allowed work to continue on constructing the adjacent parking garage.

"Knock-on-wood, we've had really good weather for construction so far this winter so the parking garage has made tremendous progress so we hope we can make-up some time and that gap will be a little shorter that originally anticipated."

That 'gap' is a roughly six-month period between the Wynn's opening date and that of the parking garage, currently projected for March of 2024. A legal fight regarding the taking of surrounding properties via eminent domain caused a delay to the start of the parking facility's construction, officials have said.