News 12 First at Five, January 28, 2009

AUGUSTA, Ga.---Some local heart patients have a new place to stay, as University Hospital has a new Heart and Vascular Institute.

"[Are] we going in a bed or a chair?" asks Lloyd Newsome.

It's moving day for Newsome, who has been at the University Hospital for congestive heart failure about two weeks.

Wednesday, an entourage helped move him and all his equipment through the halls and two elevators to the new institute.

Waiting just outside, the patient waited patiently to get in the room.

"I'm looking forward to getting in there," said Newsome.

And finally inside, Newsome can't help but compare.

"Moved into a luxury hotel room now," said Newsome.

The rooms are much larger, with extra space for visitors, and a bathroom they're all excited about.

"That is nice," Newsome said about the large shower.

The hospital moved dozens of patients in, not just for increased comfort, but for better treatment, too.

"I'm not excited about being in the hospital, no one usually is...but this is going to make everyone's stay a lot better, a lot more comfortable," Newsome said.

Part of that comfort is the patient staying in the room. In the old wing, patients had to go from place to place for treatments, but now the nurses come to them.

"I think being comfortable is a critical part of their healing process, the recovery process," said Director of Cardiovascular Nursing, Lynda Jones. "They need to feel their family's being taken care of as well as they're taken care of."

Newsome expects to be out of the hospital soon, but until then he has a shiny new room to help him recover.

The building has been in the works about five years. All the patients have been moved into the new building and all services will be done there starting next week.