Memorial Medical Center’s new surgery area, the first phase of the nonprofit hospital’s multiyear campus expansion project, began operation on March 2.

The 62,000-square-foot surgery area is near Memorial’s main entrance, making it easy to access for patients and visitors arriving at the hospital, said Jennifer Harris, administrator for surgical services at Memorial. Surgery’s entrance is only a few dozen steps from the hospital’s main entrance.

The surgery area includes four new operating rooms; another two operating rooms are on target to open by the end of this year. That will bring the total of Memorial’s operating rooms to 23, not including four cardiac operating rooms on the sixth floor and six more outpatient operating rooms in the Baylis Medical Building, just west of the hospital.

The new construction also includes 30 bays where patients go before and after surgery. Each room has wooden doors to better ensure patient privacy. The surgery area has its own dedicated set of elevators to take patients to and from surgery, further safeguarding their privacy.

The new post-anesthesia care unit, or PACU, a recovery area immediately following surgery, has 23 patient bays. Six of those bays are private rooms with doors.

The new larger waiting area can seat about 75 family members and visitors. Family members will be able to receive a confidential text to advise them about the patient’s progress through surgery. The waiting area has three consultation rooms, where surgeons can meet privately with family members.

The next phase of the campus expansion, known as Advancing Care By Design, scheduled to open will be the four-story Memorial Center for Learning and Innovation in April. The building is at the intersection of Miller and Rutledge streets.

That will be followed in early 2016 by three new floors with 114 patient rooms at the front of the hospital. The renovated lobby and front entrance will also be finished at that time.