By Jessica Marshall
Stillwater NewsPress
STILLWATER, Okla. — Stillwater Medical Center hopes to expand its emergency room, matching what it said is the population expansion of Stillwater and north-central Oklahoma.
To this end, the Stillwater Medical Foundation is hosting its 2025 Après Gala on Friday at Oklahoma State University’s Wes Watkins Center.
“As the Stillwater community has grown, it has put a strain on emergency services, including Stillwater Medical Center’s emergency room,” Stillwater Medical reported in an April press release.
The gala will include a curated three-course dinner, entertainment, music, dancing and live and silent auctions.
As of Monday, the foundation had raised nearly $142,000 toward its $500,000 goal, said Abby Fox, Stillwater Medical’s public relations and marketing manager. Coordinators are expecting 400 guests, and the event has sold out.
“Each year, the Stillwater Medical Foundation Gala reminds us just how powerful this community can be when we come together with purpose. By supporting this emergency department expansion, we’re investing in compassionate, timely care for our friends, neighbors and loved ones at their most vulnerable. Achieving our goal will help Stillwater continue to thrive,” said Michal Shaw, vice president of foundation and community relations.
The last ER expansion happened in 2006 and included 15 patient rooms. Stillwater Medical said that it “simply doesn’t have enough space to keep up with increasing demand.”
Meanwhile, Stillwater’s population has grown more than 10% since 2006 while continuing to host large events – such as The Boys from Oklahoma concert –which help “drive development and attract thousands to the community,” the release reads.
Lee Bird, who works as an emergency room volunteer, said more often than not, the ER room is full every shift she works, according to the release.
“When there are 15 rooms and ambulances are still coming in, it becomes a tough day,” Bird said.
Stillwater Medical said the current facility is frequently operating at capacity.
“(The ER) was built to accommodate 26,000 visits per year and saw 33,000 visits last year,” the press release reads. “It has broken its own records of daily patient visits six times in just the last few months (as of April). This adds stress and strain on workers who are committed to providing the highest quality care to patients.”
Contributing factors to the need for space include the healthcare landscape’s dramatic transformation after the COVID-19 pandemic and population shifts, both of which have “altered emergency medical care, revealing systemic vulnerabilities and increasing healthcare worker burnout,” the release reads.
ER charge nurse Hayley Morgan said the ER is seeing more critical patients.
“If things don’t get better, staff are going to continue to feel burnout. They’re going to continue to feel stretched thin and exhausted,” Morgan said, according to the release.
The hospital is collaborating with the foundation to raise support for the expansion, which would add rooms to reduce patient wait times, provide upgrades to modern equipment and help retain emergency medicine providers.
Stillwater Medical said the proposed expansion is “a commitment to community health, professional excellence, and compassionate medical care,” per the release.
“This is for the community. This is for you. This is to provide you with the best care, the fastest care, the safest care. That’s what we do,” said Brenda Quiring , emergency department director at Stillwater Medical.
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