BATON ROUGE - Baton Rouge General’s (BRG) new neighborhood hospital in Prairieville will open Monday, Nov. 9 at 10 a.m.,and begin accepting patients in its 14-bed emergency room and 10-bed inpatient hospital.

Open 24/7, the ER joins primary care and OB/GYN services, physical therapy, and imaging and lab services, which have all opened recently. Hospital staff, local officials and first responders will gather to kick off the morning with a blue light salute, tours and grand opening presentation.

 The 42,500-square-foot facility, located right off I-10 at 14105 Hwy. 73, is easier to navigate and was designed to create a new experience for patients, taking them straight from the door to their room. The new self-rooming concept means no waiting rooms and no clipboards of forms to fill out.

 “The design of this facility centered on what is most convenient and safe for patients and visitors,” said BRG CEO Edgardo Tenreiro. “We created a hassle-free experience at the Ascension hospital, and our plan is to continually improve the patient experience and apply the lessons we learn there at our existing and future facilities.”

 In the ER, there is no waiting room, which comes at a time when reducing the spread of illness is more important than ever. If a patient is there for emergency care, when they stop at the main lobby’s front desk, the clinical team will be notified and will take the patient right back to a room. The streamlined process continues once they’re in an exam room, with a team of staff members treating the patient together.

“The goal is for the patient to spend as little time as possible in the more routine parts of their ER visit, like the check-in and discharge process. Instead, the focus is on their interaction with our clinical team as they work quickly to diagnose and treat the patient,” Tenreiro added.

For more information, visit brgeneral.org/ascension.