By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The proposed Massena Memorial Hospital emergency room and inpatient room renovations are estimated to bring a $7.9 million price tag, and the hospital could offer services from new cardiologists next year.

That’s according to Ed Hamel, who chairs the MMH Board of Managers Planning Committee.

That breaks down to an estimated $4.8 million to add 4,500 square feet to the ER and $3.1 million for the rooms.

“We’re hoping to make those (first-floor rooms) private rooms,” Hamel said.

Wolleben said at a town board meeting in November that private rooms are key to infection control.

He has also said that the ER is no longer adequate to meet the hospital’s needs.

“We cannot continue to see the number of patients we’re seeing in the current space. We have outgrown that space,” Wolleben told the Board of Managers at their Oct. 19 meeting. “What we are proposing is an expansion of our emergency room out the back door … by extending the building out, it gives us more treatment space for triage and the less acutely ill.”

In November, MMH treated 200 more ER patients than anticipated. They saw 1,376 and had budgeted 1,131, according to their November financial and statistical summary.

MMH Director of Ancillary Services Mark Broulliette said the projects could be done in phases, so they wouldn’t have to pay the full cost up front.

The $4.8 million ER estimate is more than originally anticipated.

“We believe it’s going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 to $3.5 million, but that’s very, very preliminary,” Wolleben said Oct. 19.

In addition to the upgrades, MMH is looking at bringing in University of Vermont Medical Center cardiologists to replace Dr. Jospeh Gardella, who saw his final patient at MMH on Friday.

“They (UVM) will have two people here Jan. 1,” Hamel said.