Emergency Department to open soon at Bettendorf HealthPlex

Thursday, Dec. 8 at 12 p.m., patients will be welcomed at the Bettendorf HealthPlex at 2140 53rd Ave. In September, the company announced it was closing the emergency department at Genesis West in order to move all services to Genesis East.

The east campus is a level III trauma center, the highest ranking in the Scott County region. The five-year-old space has 17 operating rooms, multiple labs and other facilities intended for a higher level of care. The move was completed this month in anticipation of the new department opening in Bettendorf.

President of Genesis Davenport, Jordan Voigt, said the new department will have nine beds and will see about 9,600 patients a year. On average, there were about 64,000 annual visits between the east and west campuses. Voigt expects about 5,000 of those patients were traveling from Bettendorf and will instead choose the new location for care.

"We listened to our patients that requested emergency services in this area," he said. "In addition, it will help decompress the east campus a little but, because we have a lot of patients that travel."

Leading the department will be Dr. Michael Craddick. He anticipates seeing more patients than the estimated 9,600 visits.

"With the state of ER services now and how busy ER services are, hopefully we will continue to grow, and I think that's the case," he said.

About 70% of the staff at the west campus were moved to the east campus and the rest to Bettendorf. The space is shared with pediatric and family medicine.

Administration will monitor the department for one year, then decide if it needs to expand the capacity.