JACA Architects will take on a design project to significantly expand the emergency department at Tobey Hospital, one of four hospitals that comprise the Southcoast Health System.

The current emergency department has the capacity to treat 15,000 patients annually, although the hospital’s emergency services currently treat an average of 31,000 patients annually. Given this overburdened care offering, Tobey Hospital will expand the emergency department’s annual patient capacity to 40,000. Additionally, JACA Architects has been tasked with creating private rooms out of the department’s current double-occupancy rooms. Construction is tentatively expected to begin this summer.

“Obviously, Tobey Hospital has a great need for an expanded emergency department,” Anthony Cavallaro, president of JACA Architects, said in a statement. “We’re glad to have been counted on to design an emergency department that can better meet the needs of the multitude of patients Tobey sees in the course of the year. Tobey Hospital is an integral facility of the greater Wareham community, and we are proud to be contributing to even better health care for the area’s residents and visitors.”