DALLAS — Parkland Health & Hospital System has selected the Kansas City, Mo.-based firm Burns & McDonnell to provide commissioning services as Parkland continues to build out its hospital campus in Dallas. 

The new 2.8-million-square-foot Parkland campus is nearly twice the size of the old hospital on the site in Dallas County.  The Dallas-Fort Worth area experienced the largest expansion in population of any metropolitan area in the country in 2018, according to U.S. News & World Report, which means the ninth-most-populated city in the country will be in need of such expansion in the healthcare field as well. 

The Parkland hospital sees over one million patients annually, according to their website, with the medical facility offering a Level 1 Trauma Center, Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the second-largest burn care facility in the country.  It is also the teaching hospital for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Burns & McDonnell’s commissioning team will ensure that the Parkland hospital’s performance is met within the parameters of the design, construction and programming criteria set forth within the project’s multiyear Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) agreement.  The firm will oversee the ongoing construction operation, test and verify all of the new systems as well as oversee new equipment rollouts after the construction phase has been completed.

Part of the Burns & McDonnell plan includes meeting LEED v4 certification, which entails not only monitoring the quality of the hospital’s air, but also working on such internal systems as HVAC, room pressurization, humidity control, emergency power supply, plumbing, lighting controls and security.

One of the first parts of the project entails the design and build-out of a six-floor, 525,000-square-foot outpatient clinic, encompassing laboratories, offices and examination and treatment spaces.

According to Parkland’s website, Parkland Health & Hospital System was founded as a company in 1894, and has since seen such growth that they are now operators of one of the largest public hospital systems in the United States. 

Parkland President and CEO Fred Cerise was quoted in the Dallas Weekly this month—on the 125th anniversary of the company’s founding—as saying that Parkland is an integral part of the Dallas County health system and “was created with the mission to care for our community’s most vulnerable residents.”

Burns & McDonnell, encompassing over 7,000 employees, is 100 percent employee-owned and was included on Fortune magazine’s 2019 list of “Best Companies to Work For.”  The company has provided more than $11 billion in new construction within the past four years.   

“We’re excited to help Parkland implement a commissioning program that will be an integral part of Parkland’s mission to provide medical aid and hospital care to area patients,” Kyle Lambert, commissioning manager for Burns & McDonnell, said in a statement.  “At Parkland, the goal is to provide high-quality, safe care for their patients through compassion, skill and teamwork. We support Parkland’s vision and are committed to delivering a comprehensive commissioning approach focused on collaboration, accountability and attention to detail.”

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Throughout his 40 years of involvement with Parkland Health, Anderson established a number of community-based health clinics in neighborhoods that lacked services. While he stepped down from the Parkland in 2011 after the hospital had failed several health inspections, Anderson was known to connect with disadvantaged patients on a personal level. About 12 of his clinics that were opened in underserved neighborhoods are still standing today.

To continue his tradition of providing health care services to disadvantaged communities, the ambulatory clinic broke ground July 10, 2014. The building was substantially completed on Oct. 30, 2016.

Dallas-based FKP Architects was responsible for designing the interior of the hospital while Dallas-based VAI Architects was responsible for the exterior core and shell of the building. Kansas City, Mo.-based JE Dunn and Dallas-based Roberts O’Brien worked together as the general contractors.

One of the building’s main features includes a sky bridge that connects the ambulatory clinic to the main hospital on the second floor. An additional connection is made through the lower level, according to a statement from Parkland Health. Additional supplies and hospital equipment can be transported to the building through an underground tunnel.

The facility’s design also incorporates 171 exam rooms as well as four MRI machines, five CT scanners, three radiology units and seven ultrasound rooms with the capacity to expand. The facility also comes with a pharmacy that will operate 24/7, according to a statement from Parkland Health.

One of the biggest challenges during construction was that the building was designed several times based on changes. This also extended the construction schedule.

The ambulatory clinic will be located next to the DART green line, making it easier for staff and patients to access the hospital’s services. This also continues Anderson’s tradition of making services accessible to everyone in the Dallas community.

“Patients, family and staff members can easily get to the clinic via light rail or DART buses,” said Jerry Nickerson, Jr., Parkland’s interim vice president of facilities and development in a statement.

During 2016, there were more than 355,000 outpatient specialty clinic visits. In March of that year, Fred Cerise, M.D., MPH succeeded Anderson and is now in responsible for monitoring the ambulatory clinic’s progress while receiving feedback from patients and staff.

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