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Summa Akron City Hospital is expanding its emergency department to handle an increasing number of ill and injured patients.

The Akron City Planning Commission is reviewing site plans on Friday for a proposed two-story, 84,000-square-foot addition to the north of the existing emergency room.

The project will increase the ER size from 43 beds to 75, Summa spokesman Mike Bernstein said on Tuesday.

Construction of the estimated $43 million project is expected to begin this spring and take about two years to complete.

Summa will borrow money to finance the project.

Last year, the emergency department treated about 78,000 patients ’ or roughly 26,000 more patients than it was designed to handle, Bernstein said.

Systemwide, Summa’s six owned or affiliated hospitals provided emergency care to more than 227,000 patients.

”It certainly stands to reason we want to expand our ability to treat the community,” he said.

Akron City Hospital’s ER patient volume is expected to increase in the coming years, when Summa and the Crystal Clinic will be constructing the new Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center on the hospital campus.

Orthopedic services now are housed in Summa Health System’s St. Thomas Hospital.

The partners halted construction of the new orthopedic hospital in late 2008 until the financial markets improve.

”We remain committed to the project, along with our physician partners,” Bernstein said. ”It is our hope that we will resume construction in the near future.”

Construction is under way for a temporary sheltered entrance to the City Hospital ER, just east of the hospital’s surgical pavilion, according to documents from the Akron Department of Planning and Urban Development.

When the ER expansion project is completed, ambulances will access the department from Arch Street on the east side of the building, according to plans filed with the city.

The public entrance will be from North Adolph Avenue and North Forge Street to the west of the building.

The ER will remain open with no interruption to services during the construction project, Bernstein said.