By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

After just over five hours and 12 convoys of ambulances, all 97 patients were successfully transported from Trinity Medical Center to Grandview Medical Center on Saturday, Oct. 10.

“We got an outstanding start,” Grandview Medical Center President and CEO Keith Granger said. “Everyone was on time, in place and understood their responsibilities and duties.”

The first group of ambulances departed from Trinity Medical Center on Montclair Road just before 6:40 a.m. Each ambulance was accompanied by an experienced critical care nurse, and the route was monitored by numerous law enforcement officials.

Ambulances traveled from Montclair Road, down Interstate 20 to Interstate 459, then on to U.S. 280 to Grandview Medical Center.

“As a convoy was en route, we were able to keep up with the specifics as far as location (and patient vitals),” Granger said. “The move went extremely well… all patients were stable throughout the transport.”

Between 150 and 200 non-hospital employees participated in the transportation and move process, including officers from local law enforcement agencies, EMS workers and volunteers.

“It was a wonderful exercise of cooperation,” Granger said of the teamwork effort involved in the move. “It was truly inspiring.”

More than a year of preparation and planning went into the Oct. 10 move process, including a paper drill and a simulated move, Granger said. The plan accounted for a “all types” of possible scenarios, from an incapacitated ambulance to a natural disaster.

During the transition, both Trinity Medical Center and Grandview Medical Center were open to accept patients. Grandview’s emergency room team treated the hospital’s first patient shortly before 6 a.m. on Oct. 10.

The first baby was delivered at Grandview Medical Center less than 12 hours after the hospital opened to patients.

“It was actually an employee who participated in the move,” Granger said of the first mother to deliver a baby at the hospital. “She’s a very dedicated employee.”

By 11:53 a.m. on Oct. 10, the last convoy of patients were successfully transported from Trinity Medical Center to Grandview Medical Center. Since the move, all hospital operations are housed at the Grandview campus.

“It’s actually going extremely well, probably better than we could have hoped for,” Granger said of the hospital’s first few days in operation. “Patient care is totally in sync with the activities going on in the organization.”