The state-of-the-art facility is about three times the size of the current emergency room and is the largest expansion in the hospital's history, spokeswoman Rachel Kagno said.
It was unveiled last night to more than 700 residents and city and state officials who donated more than $19 million to the project.
Kagno said the hefty price tag includes the emergency department, a parking garage expansion that now includes 90 spaces dedicated to ER patients, and Shipley Way, a long hallway and snack bar that connects the department to the rest of the hospital.
The emergency department alone cost $34 million, and the largest donation - $3 million - came from Blum's family.
"It is drop dead, knockout, killer," said Betty Ann Blum, daughter of the department's namesake. "It is amazing."
Maxwell Blum was 77 when he died in Newton-Wellesley's emergency room March 10, 2003.
"He was a very community-minded person. He truly believed you should give back," Betty Ann Blum said.
Blum was born and raised in Newton, and owned and operated the Maxwell Shoe Co. in Boston for several years. He also raised his daughters - Marjorie and Betty Ann - here with his wife, Eleanor.
Betty Ann said her parents spent hours at the emergency room with Marjorie growing up, as her sibling was accident prone, and they also received "exceptional" care there later in life.
So, it was "natural" and "a no-brainer" when the family was asked to donate to the expansion fund.
"This has been a wonderful and uplifting experience," Betty Ann said. "But we don't need a name on a building to remember my father."
She said the new department "takes the sting out of being in the emergency room."
The new emergency department is 35,000 square feet and has separate waiting rooms and patient rooms for adults and children that are Internet accessible and cell phone friendly. The children's area has kid-friendly programming and a play area, said Pam Cormier, assistant nurse manager of the department.
There are also several smaller waiting rooms throughout the department, and a four-bed fast-track waiting room that will be open for rapid assessment, treatment and release.
The former emergency room only had a three-bed fast-track area in space borrowed from another department, Cormier said.
The pediatric section, which serves people up to age 20, is bright and colorful, with eight beds and camera hookups that go directly to Massachusetts General Hospital - a level one trauma center - for "on-the-spot assists."
"Kids are portable," Cormier said. "If a kid gets hit by a car, people usually scoop the kid up and bring them through the door. They don't tend to call 911."
The adult treatment area has 24 beds in private rooms, each equipped with a flat-screen TV.
"They are all set up to treat people the same. Currently, we are treating patients in hallways," Cormier said.
She said the rooms are all the same size, and are identical down to the placement of the Q-tips.
"If I want a Q-tip in one room, it is in the same place in every room," she said. "In an emergency, you don't want to be hunting for supplies."
Cormier said no detail in the department was overlooked, down to the curve of the ceiling to prevent private conversations from reverberating off the walls, to the sloped countertops that are unable to collect coffee cups and other clutter.
She said new medication dispenser systems are now located in the emergency department, eliminating the need for staff to have to leave, and a system of tubes has been implemented so medication or paperwork can be shuttled between different departments.
Rooms for psychiatric patients have all the amenities of regular rooms, except the televisions are behind glass, and a garage-type door can come down to cover equipment that can harm an out-of-control patient or be used as a weapon.
The new department will also have one more triage room, and will give staff the ability to get to patients more easily, Cormier said.
"Staff will now come to the patients, rather than the patient coming to the staff," she said.
The Blum Emergency Pavilion also has a negative-pressure area that can be used for decontamination, a CAT scan that was never before housed in the hospital's ER, and electronic X-rays.
"Right now, if we have someone who is contaminating the area, we would have to shut down the entire department," Cormier said.
Dr. Michael Jellinek, president of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, said he has hired more than 45 new people to help staff the expanded department, and hopes to decrease wait times to a maximum of 90 minutes.
Dr. Mark Lemons, chairman of the department of emergency medicine, said the department saw a major increase in patients when Waltham Hospital closed in July 2003.
He said the current ER, which will close six to eight hours after the new department opens at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17, is slated to become a cancer center.
A community open house will be held at the Maxwell Blum Emergency Pavilion Sunday, Jan. 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, call CareFinder at 617-243-6566 or visit www.nwh.org/emergency.
