by KYW’s Steve Tawa

The nation's first hospital -- Pennsylvania Hospital, founded in 1791 in Philadelphia’s Society Hill section -- is expanding to keep up with the times and that includes its new emergency department.

Dr. Charles Pollack, chairman of the department of emergency medicine, says the emergency department needed to be updated:

“We have outstripped our current physical capacity.”

Phase one has just been completed in the renovation and expansion project, literally moving patient care facilities across the hall. While they work in the new space, the old space will be renovated over the next year:

“We'll then have an emergency department that's about 3 ½ to 4 times the size of what we had before, with enough patient care spaces for about twice as many beds.”

The $12 million expansion will not only increase the number of patient rooms and treatment areas, but also includes new and improved equipment.

The entrance to the emergency department has also relocated to the Spruce Street side of the hospital, near Ninth Street.