MIAMI—Skanska USA has signed an initial contract for $90 million (and the total project cost is expected to be $300 million upon completion) for the renovation and expansion of one of the emergency departments at Jackson Health System –one of the country’s leading and largest public health systems, located in Miami, Fla. The healthcare renovation and expansion will encompass the demolition of two buildings to create additional space as part of the planned expansion, which will triple the size of the healthcare system’s flagship emergency department at Jackson Memorial Hospital

Situated in the heart of the Miami Health District, the nonprofit academic medical hospital, Jackson Memorial receives an average of 120,000 emergency department patient visits annually. Designed by the award-winning global architecture firm HKS, the approximately 130,000-square-foot expansion in the busiest emergency department within Miami-Dade County will include 207 new rooms, inclusive of 50 observation rooms and seven patient rooms.

“As a leader in healthcare construction in Florida, Skanska has built a strong partnership with Jackson delivering several healthcare construction projects in the past. This project will be critical to serving the growing healthcare needs of the Miami community,” said Bob Kramer, Vice President and Account Manager for Skanska’s Florida building operations. “We hope the emergency department renovation and expansion will have a lasting impact in helping to provide medical services to residents and visitors who rely on Jackson Health for life-saving procedures and world-class health care.”

The construction work will also encompass the relocation and installation of underground utilities to support the larger medical building. The Jackson project will enable the expanding health system to triage patients faster and reduce wait times to better serve its growing patient population in South Florida. The new emergency department expansion is expected to be delivered in 2025, while the renovation to the existing emergency department totaling about 45,000 square feet will be completed in 2027.

With a trajectory building transformative and innovative healthcare projects across Florida, Skanska also delivered the Jackson Project D – Floor Modernizations project at Jackson in 2019. Additionally, the construction company previously completed the state-of-the-art medical facility Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute in Downtown Orlando; the expansion and renovation of the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers; and the renovation of the Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital at Broward Health.

The post Big Renovation and Expansion for Miami Hospital’s Emergency Department appeared first on HCO News.

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital Emergency Department (ED) officially earned LEED Gold certification in July with the help of CannonDesign and Hunter Roberts Construction Group — both of which have offices in New York.

Established in 1916, Huntington Hospital is a full-service, 408-bed, nonprofit community hospital serving Huntington Township and surrounding communities. Huntington Hospital has been a member of Northwell Health since 1994 and “shares the system’s vision of being a pre-eminent healthcare delivery system in the tradition of excellence and the embodiment of community values and human dignity,” according to the hospital’s website.

LEED positively evaluated the emergency department across key criteria related to sustainability including materials used, energy use and water efficiency, according to a statement from the architect.

“Achieving LEED Gold certification is a significant achievement for Northwell Health and its Huntington Hospital,” said Rich Kahn, CannonDesign’s New York office practice leader, in a statement. “They established LEED Silver as a goal from the outset of the project and through collaboration and design creativity the ED exceeded that initial target. It’s always rewarding for our firm to partner with organizations who demonstrate such a strong commitment to sustainability, and we’re proud of our work with Northwell Health.”

The key design features and green elements that helped the emergency department achieve LEED Gold certification included extensive water use–reduction strategies, energy-efficient materials and systems, access to natural daylight, a focus on enhanced commissioning, low-emittance materials throughout and construction waste management. Collectively, these sustainable design features have created a healthier environment in which patients can receive care and staff can deliver care. This translates to a more rewarding patient experience for everyone involved.

Huntington Hospital sought to significantly increase its ED treatment volume while improving efficiency and patient outcomes to meet the community’s rapidly growing needs, according to CannonDesign’s statement. Huntington’s existing ED needed to maintain operations during construction; therefore, phasing was carefully planned to expand throughput, minimize disruption to ED operations and ensure no negative impact on the patient experience. One of 21 community-based hospitals in the Northwell Health network, Huntington Hospital now features an expanded ED that has doubled in space and has greatly improved the stream of patients, visitors and staff into and through the unit.

The hospital has also implemented what it calls a “super-track” model in the emergency department to efficiently manage wait times and reduce the length of stays for patients.

“The split-flow, super-track model is a system that filters patients between acute and lower-acuity care areas in order to more effectively manage patient wait times and reduce length of stay. This helps patients receive the type of care they require in a more efficient and effective manner,” said Robert Masters, New York health market leader of CannonDesign.

The new ED is advantageously positioned to connect with the standing hospital on the first-floor level, within close proximity to the radiology department and lab services, and with many other key program adjacencies that will facilitate future development. The ED visually anchors the existing hospital building and creates a new reference point for the campus. In addition to providing a new entrance, it constitutes a link with the original hospital pavilion by flanking the current main entry drop-off. Large corner windows provide natural light and scenic views.

Masters explained that other hospitals can use Huntington’s ED as a model for future healthcare facility expansions.

“The sustainable strategies represented in Huntington Hospital’s emergency department can be seized by other facilities when organizations engage design firms well versed in sustainable design strategy. Each facility is unique and thus requires a unique design solution, but sustainable design is always possible,” concluded Masters.

The post Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital Emergency Department Achieves LEED Gold appeared first on HCO News.

HERRIN, Ill. — On most construction jobs, time is measured in months, not minutes. But the expansion and renovation of Herrin Hospital in Herrin, scheduled for completion later this year, is not a typical construction job.

The $23.6 million project involved the addition of a second-floor surgery center expansion directly above an active Emergency Department (ED) and the primary entrance where patients and emergency vehicles access the facility every day.

Several times a month, Life Flight helicopters had to safely transport critically ill patients to the two-story structure’s rooftop helipad — just 15 feet from the construction site. The construction team had a matter of minutes to mobilize and prepare for these urgent, yet impossible-to-predict, scenarios.

Our team worked closely with the hospital operations group to develop a systematic process to ensure the site was prepared in advance to accommodate the safe, efficient arrival of a helicopter. The plan included a priority call list and protocol to ensure the crew took quick, decisive action.

Fifteen minutes before a helicopter was expected to arrive, the team received a call and instructed everyone in the area to evacuate. If there were any cranes up, we had to boom down. All of the work was planned ahead of time and set up to make everything happen within a 15-minute period.

And after the helicopter departed from the helipad, the team received another call to confirm that construction activity could resume. Thanks to the coordinated execution of this plan, there were no negative impacts on the construction schedule.

Going Vertical

Part of the Southern Illinois Healthcare system, Herrin Hospital was originally constructed in 1914 and has undergone multiple expansions to accommodate growing patient demand throughout the southern Illinois region. A 21,369-square-foot vertical expansion was the only viable option for expanding the surgery center on this landlocked campus, which is surrounded on all sides by streets and other property owners.

Though vertical expansions are becoming increasingly more common in acute care facilities, construction teams often lack the specialized expertise to effectively build a project while managing its inherent risks and challenges. During my 16-year career at McCarthy, I’ve overseen numerous vertical expansions, subterranean additions, specialized medical equipment upgrades and other highly phased renovation projects. Each project has unique challenges and there’s something new to learn on every one of them.

On the Herrin project, our staff and subcontractors received extensive ongoing training to equip them to manage the unique aspects of vertical expansions and working on an active hospital. Our goal was to efficiently build the project while maintaining operations and not negatively impacting patient satisfaction.

Because the ED was part of an active construction site, the team remained vigilant about issues such as infection control, limiting noise and vibration, controlling odors from construction and maintaining emergency traffic flow. Safety and infection control — which really is patient safety — are our No. 1 priorities. That means keeping 100 percent of construction dust outside of the facility and not increasing risks inside the hospital, all the while we’re jackhammering, core drilling and completing other operations above, beside and inside the facility.

Clear, prominent signage was posted throughout the area to inform patients and visitors what’s happening and guide them in safely navigating the site.

Beyond the inherent challenges of constructing an addition over an active ED, the project also involved the replacement of the emergency department’s entire HVAC system. We were in every square inch of the space — rerouting, removing and replacing the HVAC system and removing the air handler on the existing roof.

Additionally, the project required the relocation of above-ground, high-voltage power lines located about 8 feet east of the construction site. And the north side of the addition has limited access because of an adjacent owner’s property line. The tight site meant limited laydown space, storage space and parking space. Our team convened weekly meetings with the hospital’s facilities and clinical operations team to keep everyone informed and to ensure that all construction work was coordinated with planned hospital operations.

Phase II of the project includes renovations to the hospital’s existing operating rooms, and Phase II involves the renovation of existing waiting and support areas to create a same-day surgery center. The entire project is expected to be completed at the end of 2017.

Scott Morris is a project manager at McCarthy Building Companies.

The post Planning & Precision Guide Vertical Expansion at Herrin Hospital appeared first on HCO News.

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — The Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in Woodbridge opened doors on Aug. 4 to the completed renovations of its emergency department (ED) lobby. With the ED lobby now completed, the rest of the department renovations that began in April are underway, with a scheduled completion date by December of this year.

Huelat Davis Healing Design in Alexandria, Va., was the architect chosen to redesign the 21,000-square-foot ED, with Scott Long Construction of Chantilly, Va., serving as the general contractor. The project has a budget of $2.6 million with a goal of providing state-of-the art space that will cater to the patient experience and patient care workflow for emergency department hospital staff. The emergency department has not been updated since 2006 when 16 rooms — eight observation rooms and eight pediatric exam rooms — were added to the floor plan. The new emergency department will have 37 rooms in total when complete.

Improvements to the emergency department will include interior design features with more “streamlined accessibility” to the intake nurse and registration teams, with the intention of patients to gain care in a quicker more efficient manner, according to Dynette Rombough, director of emergency services at the Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center. The nurses will be placed in the front of the department, better enabling them to identify the sickest ambulatory patients upon entry. Additionally, acute care and focused care areas will also receive new updates to improve appearances and overall patient flow by decreasing the previously “fragmented feel” of the department. Due to cost, a portion of the original plan to connect two sections of the ED has been put on hold, with the hope of revisiting the improvement in future years, according to Rombough.

The ED design has been a team effort between all patient care entities, according to Rombough, with all items decided on “as a united front” — the impact of patient care as the central viewpoint through which decisions were made. “What makes this project special is that we took the elements back to our perspective teams for their inputs and design ideas. We involved everyone,” said Rombough.

The emergency department will continue to serve patients through the renovation process, a challenge of the project identified by Rombough and the design team. An example of meeting this challenge included redirecting the flow of emergency patients through the hospital’s main entrance while the emergency department lobby was under construction, as a measure to expedite the check-in process for the hospital while the ED lobby was under renovation.

“Continuing to offer excellent patient care while under construction is always a challenge,” said Rombough. “That said, we know this project will be worth it the end — not only to improve our work environment, but also to improve the overall patient experience. Even through the pain of construction, everyone maintained a positive attitude and outlook throughout, keeping the ultimate goal in mind. Through the new redesign of the ED intake process, we were able to develop it in conjunction with our mission and vision of ‘Improving Health Every Day.’”

The post Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center Renovations Underway appeared first on HCO News.

Baskerville & Son, PC in Richmond, Va., will be the architectural firm on the project. The $4 million expansion will increase the size of the Bedford Memorial Hospital by more than 30 percent, with the emergency department expanding by 1,800 square feet. The completed emergency department will be approximately 7,500 square feet in size and will grow from 10 beds to a 14-bed treatment facility.

The Bedford Memorial emergency department sees approximately 16,000 patients a year, and saw an 11 percent increase in patient traffic between 2014 and 2016, according to Patti Jurkus, CEO of Bedford Memorial Hospital. The renovations and expansion will create more space for physicians to practice in addition to more patient beds, and it will also implement cosmetic changes and infrastructural upgrades to the facility. For this, they will be hiring professional contractors to help with the renovation, for instance, they plan to find a company that specializes in roofing Roanoke based or more local to help with the roof repairs. Additionally, the installation of advanced medical equipment will enable the hospital to better serve its patients with a higher level of care.

The hospital is taking multiple measures to prevent the disruption of patient care during the renovations. The hospital will open a temporary emergency department on the second floor of the building starting on May 18. Additionally, the hospital is increasing its staff at both the temporary and the new facility for the duration of the construction process. Three more registered nurses and multiple physicians have been hired to meet patient needs during this transition time.

This upcoming renovation and expansion of the Bedford Memorial emergency department is just one part of a series of renovations made by the hospital in recent years. Before this project, the medical surgical unit and the ICU underwent renovations as well. “We love our hospital, love our community and want to provide best service possible,” said Jurkus in a recent statement.

The post Bedford Hospital to Undergo Emergency Department Renovation, Expansion appeared first on HCO News.

The hospital’s emergency department was originally built to serve 35,000 patients. The increase in patient traffic at the Augusta Health ER over the past 20 years has led to patients often being served in hallways or corridors during especially busy times. “The hospital is not only seeing more patients, but patients of higher acuity with trauma, strokes and heart attacks,” said Mary Mannix, Augusta Health president and chief executive officer at Augusta Health, in a recent statement.

The addition and renovation will allow the hospital to expand and grow as the community it serves does the same, according to Mannix. The current space constraints of the hospital limits its ability to accommodate and upgrade to the significant innovations in medical equipment and technology in recent years, and the intention of the hospital’s expansion is to make these upgrades possible.

The plans for the expansion include a 33,000-square-foot, two-story addition, as well as renovating the existing 17,500-square-foot facility. Completion of the project is set for 2019. The expansion will include 48 large, private rooms and dedicated areas for stroke, heart attack and other trauma cases. There will be areas for family consultation, private conversations and for meetings with doctors. Enhanced workspace for EMS, police and mental health professionals are also included in the plans for expansion. A new ambulatory entrance with a canopy will also be built, and 16,288 square feet of shelled space for future use are included in the expansion.

The post Augusta Health Hospital Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for $32 Million Project appeared first on HCO News.

The Emergency Department’s new exterior and interior renovations were designed to help make the emergency health care experience as comfortable and efficient as possible. With that in mind, the design features a new exterior walk-in entry and drop-off canopy for incoming patients as well as a new ambulance drop-off canopy and five ambulance parking spaces.

“We pride ourselves on delivering high quality, compassionate care to every person who comes through our Emergency Department doors,” said Joe DeSchryver, CEO of Good Samaritan Hospital, in a statement. “This expansion provides our community with increased access to emergency services. At the same time, we are excited to be able to create an updated and comfortable environment.”

Upon entering the Emergency Department, patients will be evaluated by medical staff and assigned an appropriate treatment room. The project includes 34 treatment rooms, four of which are designated for pediatric patients. It also features dedicated EKG, radiography and CT rooms; trauma/cardiac rooms; a blood-draw station; and care treatment stations, which will allow department staff to focus on individual patient needs and help reduce overall wait time. Separate waiting rooms will be available for adults and children.

The Emergency Department will remain open and fully operational during construction. Good Samaritan Hospital will even continue to receive CalSTAR air ambulance transfers from six county regions because the community depends on the hospital, which is equipped to treat complex cardiology, stroke and cerebrovascular cases. Designated by Santa Clara County, the hospital is a ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) receiving center, and it has one of the nation’s first Joint Commission-certified Comprehensive Stroke Centers. However, the hospital’s Respiratory Therapy, Nuclear Medicine and Health Information Services departments will be relocated during the interior renovations.

The national architecture firm, Perkins+Will, will serve as the project architect, while locally based Layton Construction will serve as the project’s general contractor.

The post Good Samaritan to Expand Emergency Department appeared first on HCO News.