Lake County: Rescue squads move patients to new TriPoint Hospital

CONCORD TOWNSHIP -- Lake East Hospital in Painesville is no more.

TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township officially opened its doors at 7 a.m. and, eight minutes later, Kayla Larbig arrived to deliver the hospital's first baby, Ayden James.

Being first has its bonuses, as Lake Erie College gave Ayden a four-year scholarship.

"So amazing to receive such a generous gift. I don't have to start a college fund for him. Somebody's blessed us with it," Ayden's father Ben Parsons says.

Meanwhile, Lake County rescue squads were getting ready for a huge undertaking -- moving 50 patients from the old Lake East Hospital to the new TriPoint.

It took a year of planning and emergency officials saw it as a great opportunity to practice for a disaster. A federal Homeland Security grant covered extra wages and overtime.

"We even had some federal observers here today from Homeland Security to watch the move and the entire process," Lake Health CEO Cynthia Moore-Hardy says.

And then, one by one, patients began to arrive.

Mentor Fire Chief Richard Harvey says the entire patient transport took two hours and forty minutes and went off without a hitch.

He says it also fostered strong cooperation between the hospital and emergency services and may be used as a plan by other cities in the event of a necessary evacuation.

"We practiced patient tracking better than we ever have before. We now have a system that will work very good for evacuations of nursing homes, hospitals, day care systems, wherever we need to put it in place."