Bon Secours tops out new emergency department.

Bon Secours St. Francis celebrated a milestone Thursday in its emergency care construction project at St. Francis Downtown when a small group of hospital staff gathered for a topping-off ceremony. They watched construction workers place the final beam on top of the hospital's new 45,000-square-foot emergency department.

Many of the hospital's frontline workers were given the chance to sign the beam before the ceremony, according to a news release. The construction part renovation and part new construction will relocate the emergency department and quintuple the unit's current space.

The new emergency department will have 42 rooms and accommodate 75,000 visits annually, the release said. Its design will include "fast-track" rooms to separate less acute care cases from other emergencies; holding rooms for patients waiting on lab results, behavioral health rooms for mental health emergencies; and new equipment.

"Following a very difficult year, this topping off ceremony is an exciting reminder of a bright future," Greta Gue, administrative director of emergency services for Bon Secours...