Our guest for lunch this week was Dr. Paul LaCasse, president and CEO of Botsford Health Care since 2005. His role expanded earlier this year to include responsibilities with Beaumont Health, the new organization formed through a merger of Beaumont Health System, Oakwood Healthcare and Botsford in September 2014. Paul shared with us that he was "forever grateful for the journey that began in 1977 when I arrived at Botsford as a third-year medical student from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Now that the former Botsford Hospital is an essential component of Beaumont Health, it is time for me to transition its leadership to a new president." He will continue to serve as Beaumont - Farmington Hills president until a successor is named through an executive search. In his new role as executive vice president of the Post-Acute Division, Paul is leading the clinical and operational areas of medical transportation, senior living centers, home services, laboratory and pathology services, specialty and retail pharmacy, joint ventures and diversified business entities.
We also received an update on the $165MM expansion of Beaumont Health System Botsford Campus. The 5project which will take up to 5 years to complete will include a new patiewnt tower with 80 beds, doubling the size of the emergency room, adding 8 surgical suites, a new power plant and parking deck and much more. Services such as emergency care, surgery and post surgical will be on "stacked" floors to improve the flow of patients between units. All of the additions and changes are designed to improve the delivery of services and outcomes for patients, insuring that our community hospital has the best services and technologies available.