Chester B. Kaletkowski, president and CEO of South Jersey Hospital System in Cumberland County, envisions a hospital room that does not have a television, phone or medical charts.

In Kaletkowski's hospital room of the future, all communications would come from a patient's universal computer terminal. Vital signs, medical records, communications with the hospital staff, phone and television would be accessed from one unit that can be used by everyone.

"The only downside is if it's the World Series and it's the bottom of the ninth and the nurse comes in and needs to check your vital stats," Kaletkowski said.

Of course, Kaletkowski's vision is still a ways off. The new South Jersey hospital that would contain the universal terminal is just a skeleton of steel girders at a construction site that is barely nine months old. With an opening date two years away, Kaletkowski has plenty of time to incorporate technological and medical advances that are not even available today.

"That's the opportunity that exists," Kaletkowski said. "The builder is giving us the shell. Once the platform is here, we can occupy it with the latest technology. Things are happening so quickly that we are still evaluating it."

Kaletkowski and Patrick E. Duke of KLMK Contractors, which is overseeing the construction, recently laid out their vision for the new hospital for Assemblyman Nicholas Asselta as part of NJBIA's Site Visit Program. The program is designed to give legislators a better understanding of businesses in their districts and the issues they face.

The new hospital will provide medical services currently available at three hospitals-Millville, Vineland, and Bridgeton-and serve 250,000 residents in Southern New Jersey.

The new state-of-the-art facility also will give South Jersey Health System a leg up in attracting top doctors. Knowing that they can work with the latest technology at one large hospital instead of shuttling between three out-dated facilities will make the hospital more attractive for specialists.

Since the older hospitals needed continual upgrades, Kaletkowski estimates that the new facility will save between $7 million and $10 million per year in renovations.

By centralizing operations, the hospital system will achieve certain economies of scale. Instead of three physicians on duty 24/7 (one at each old hospital), the new facility will only have one. Similarly, there will be one pharmacy, one maintenance staff, one delivery department.

The grand opening is slated for 2004.

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