ECMC Marks First-Year Anniversary of KeyBank Trauma and Emergency Department

New state-of-the-art facility cares for approximately 70,000 patients in first year; ECMC achieves  $15 million private fundraising goal and reached $25 million with NYS award

Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) Corporation recently commemorated the first-year anniversary of the opening of the institution’s $55 million KeyBank Trauma and Emergency Department, which  doubled the size of the previous 40-year old facility and features state-of-the-art technology and equipment for the region’s only level 1 adult trauma center. 

Since it opened to patients on June 2, 2020, nearly 70,000 patients have been care for in the new facility. The project raised $15,050,717 from private philanthropy and received a $10 million award from New York State.

“On the first anniversary of the opening of this truly remarkable facility, we again express our most sincere admiration and gratitude to emergency department caregivers who day-in, day-out provide lifesaving care for our friends, relatives and neighbors throughout Western New York,” said  Jonathan A. Dandes, ECMC Corporation board chairman and chairman of ECMC’s capital campaign. “Further, we are deeply thankful to all of the donors to the capital campaign that helped make this project possible. Every donation, large or small, made a difference in our ability to build the most state-of-the-art trauma and emergency department in our region and beyond. As chair of the project’s capital campaign, I can say without qualification that our first major solicitation for public support of any capital project in ECMC’s esteemed history was an overwhelming success.”

ECMC Corporation President and CEO Thomas J. Quatroche Jr., Ph.D., said, “From the very beginning of planning for the future KeyBank Trauma and Emergency Department, our process was one of inclusion, collaboration and cooperation. Working closely with our emergency department clinicians, our goal was to design a new facility that met their needs and expectations, while always keeping patient care as our guiding principle. Thanks to their input, the support of our community and the guidance of our board of directors, we managed to complete this project as the COVID-19 pandemic dominated our region, as well as across the country. Yet, despite that significant challenge, and thanks to everyone involved, we kept the completion and eventual opening of the facility on schedule. As I have said previously, our emergency department clinicians have always provided national best-in-class care and now they have a national best-in-class facility to match their excellence.”

Photo: Patient treated at ECMC’s KeyBank Trauma and Emergency Department. The department is celebrating one years since it first opened. Nearly 70,000 patients were treated in the period.