Nurse Karen Lazzo, center, demonstrates the use of a portable monitor after receiving training earlier that morning inside the trauma rooms at the $14.5 million Dr. George N. Pratt and Sarah Meyer Pratt Emergency Center at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, which opens today for patient treatment. The 20,500-square-foot center is more than twice the size of the previous facility. It has a 45-seat waiting area, 26 private rooms, two triage rooms, two trauma rooms, decontamination areas and isolation rooms. The center's capacity for patients has increased from 24 to 45. Future plans include a kiosk where patients can check in by swiping their driver's license or ID. For more information: www.bmhsc.org.

SARAH WELLIVER