MACHIAS — Renovation and new construction will enable Down East Community Hospital to meet the shift toward outpatient surgery, Richard L. Hanley, chief executive officer at DECH, has announced.

A procedure room is needed in addition to the two existing operating rooms, Hanley said. Increases in surgical caseload have culminated in a 60 percent increase during the past year, said Debra Murphy, chief nursing officer at DECH. Outpatient surgery has increased dramatically, causing DECH officials to expand the outpatient surgery unit from four to six beds.

Also, a 27-by-48-foot addition will hold the Health Information Department at the southwest corner of the MacBride administrative building, increasing floor space for health information operations nearly 50 percent.

The project will be completed in the spring of 1997, Hanley said.