RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Designed by interdisciplinary firm, HGA, and delivered through a design-build partnership with Turner Construction Company, the new Student Health and Counseling Center at the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) is now providing a holistic approach to wellness for students across the University’s campus. Medical, mental health and wellbeing services are integrated throughout the comprehensive two-story, 39,450-square-foot center that includes a primary care clinic, women’s health services, laboratory services, a pharmacy, counseling offices, and a conference center. The University celebrated the state-of-the-art facility’s opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The new Student Health and Counseling Center (SHCC) has been carefully situated in the northern residential district of the campus, convenient for student access. It replaces the University’s former Student Health Services and Counseling and Psychological Services, which were located in aging 1960’s era buildings south of the new site. Both departments, Student Health and Counseling and Psychological Services are the largest operators in the new Center, which now includes more than double the number of exam rooms and offers a wide array of upgraded spaces to support student health within walking distance from the residence halls.

The new facility offers additional health services in a single location for the first time to complete a seamless wellness experience, including Case Management Services and the Student Well-being, Intervention, and Follow-up Team (SWIFT) that handles crisis response. The Well—UC Riverside’s health promotion and education department—and Basic Needs, which assists students with essential needs and provides for students with food insecurity issues, also have satellite spaces at the new facility. The increased space for medical services results in increased appointment availability for more efficient treatment. To support this, the space also includes a significant technology upgrade, which is being accompanied by a redesigned website where students can easily manage their healthcare.

HGA’s design of the Student Health and Counseling Center relied on evidence-based practices to ensure all departments can work together synergistically within the new healthcare environment. Laboratory services were relocated to be directly adjacent to the clinics for improved connectivity and communication between the clinicians and lab staff and to ensure patients could provide their specimen collection as part of their appointments.

The design also focused on the student experience, providing a modern healing atmosphere for those who are ill and a welcoming space to promote ongoing services and preventative care for students campus wide. Soothing, biophilic design elements contribute to the overall environment with large windows that allow natural light and take advantage of views of the Box Springs Mountains to the east and the Wellness Court and green belt to the south. A custom wood art wall design accents the main lobby reception area and the counseling center features specialty wood ceilings. A spectrum of soft blue, yellow and green pastel colors decorate walls in the first and second floor lobbies, a nod to the calming effects of nature.

The building’s multiple entries provide enhanced accessibility for students, staff, and visitors that arrive at the Center. The main entrance, located on the front of the facility and highly visible from the main thoroughfare of West Linden Street, provides vehicular access and drop-offs. A second entry, located off of the central courtyard, provides easy access for students walking to the Center from the dining and residence halls to the south. A third key entry is provided on the west side of the building, allowing for discreet ambulance access to the facility, for students requiring transport to a local hospital.

The design of the new center achieves the University’s sustainability goals anticipating a LEED Silver certification while addressing environmental concerns through embodied carbon reduction; human health concerns through nutrition programs, improved air quality, acoustics, and the incorporation of biophilic design strategies.

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HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—Memorial Regional Hospital, the flagship facility of Memorial Healthcare System, is investing $88 million to upgrade its infrastructure. Construction has begun at the Hollywood-based hospital and will include an all-new floor for its Memorial Family Birthplace, and significant upgrades to the Level I Trauma Center and Emergency Room.

Since its opening as a one-story, 100-bed Memorial Hospital in 1953, to one of the largest hospitals in the state with 863 beds and dozens of specialties, the hospital has continuously expanded its services and spaces to meet the demands of a growing community. This investment affirms Memorial’s commitment to remaining a leader in healthcare, continually adapting and evolving to optimize positive outcomes and the patient experience.

“With a visionary approach, Memorial Regional Hospital aims to enhance the quality of care and ensure the best possible experience for our patients and their families,” said Peter Powers, CEO, Memorial Regional Hospital. “This investment reflects the hospital’s commitment to remaining at the forefront of medical advancements and reflects our unwavering dedication the community we serve.”

With more babies born at Memorial Regional Hospital than any other facility in Broward County, more than 75% of the investment ($68 million) has been allocated to redesigning the Family Birthplace to create a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to delivering exceptional maternity care.

This labor of love is underway with expected completion in late 2024. Already a destination center for high-risk pregnancies, with specialized programs for high-risk obstetrics, maternal-fetal medicine, a Placenta Accreta Spectrum Program, and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital’s Level IV Wasie NICU, the enhanced Family Birthplace will offer expanded, private new rooms and specialty rooms, family lounge, cutting-edge technology, and a comprehensive range of services to support expecting mothers and newborns.

The redesigned fourth floor (59,150 sq. ft.) will include:

• All private rooms
• 54 Postpartum rooms, 18 Antepartum rooms
• Partner & Family lounge
• Specialty rooms for meditation and Kosher dietary needs
• Classroom for new parent classes
• Simulation lab to offer specialized training to promote quality and safety

“We want to give expectant parents a modern and safe place to deliver with all the comforts to call this their baby’s first home. The legacy and commitment of Memorial Regional Hospital remains evident as we continue to make significant upgrades to our all-new fourth floor,” shared Jane McCarthy, Director of Nursing.

Not stopping there, Memorial Regional Hospital is committed to being at the forefront of emergency medical services in South Florida, and is investing $20 million to upgrade its Level 1 Trauma Center and Emergency Room. By upgrading and expanding the trauma center, which treats pediatric and adult patients who are critically wounded or suffer a traumatic injury, the hospital is enhancing its capacity to handle the most critical cases and mass casualty situations efficiently and effectively.

With nearly 94,000 visits in 2022, the hospital’s ER is the second largest in the state. Due to the high volume of patients in this area, construction is happening in numerous phases and is expected to be completed in early 2025.

The improvements include:

• Three redesigned trauma bays with built-in redundancy to accommodate two patients per room if necessary
• Enlarged resuscitation room that could serve as a fourth trauma bay if needed
• Emergency room aesthetic upgrades

In addition to the Family Birthplace, Level I Trauma Center, and Emergency Room, Memorial features a wide range of treatments and technologies, including: Medical and Surgical Services, Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute with an award-winning ECMO program, Memorial Cancer Institute, Memorial Neuroscience Institute, and Comprehensive Stroke Center, Memorial Transplant Institute, offering kidney, heart and pancreas transplants and Behavioral Health Services.

The general contractor is Turner Construction for both projects; HKS is the architect for Family Birthplace; and Harvard Jolly is the architect for the ER/trauma renovations.

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CLEVELAND—Hammes Healthcare, a leading provider of consulting and project management services, recently celebrated the opening of the new MetroHealth Glick Center in Cleveland.

The new 386-bed, 11-story Glick Center is part of a wider campus transformation program focused on healthcare equity for the community. The Glick Center replaces MetroHealth’s aging main hospital and serves as the focal point for a redeveloped and revitalized 52-acre campus in Cleveland’s West 25th Street neighborhood. The new campus includes 25 acres of green space and will be the first hospital-led EcoDistrict in the world.

Hammes was first engaged by MetroHealth in November 2017 shortly after plans for the Campus Transformation were announced. From the onset, Hammes worked with MetroHealth, the City of Cleveland Planning Commission, and other local authorities to advance the program. Throughout the design and construction phase, Hammes collaborated with project partners, including HGA, Moody Nolan, and Signet Real Estate Group, to keep the project on schedule and on budget. Hammes’ value engineering efforts provided for significant additional resources that were leveraged to enhance the program’s healthcare services and overall vision.

Project partners included HGA, Moody Nolan, Signet Real Estate Group, and Turner Construction.

“As the owner’s representative for our Campus Transformation Program, the Hammes team demonstrated a true commitment to MetroHealth focused on collaboration and resource management to ensure schedule compliance and consistent budget control practices,” said Walter Jones, MetroHealth Senior Vice President, Campus Transformation. “Their focus and execution on value engineering and best practice management provided opportunities for MetroHealth to incorporate improvements to the project.”

“It has been an honor to work with Walter Jones, Dr. Boutros, and the entire MetroHealth community over the past five years on this truly transformational project,” said Nancy Connolly, President of Hammes Healthcare. “This project has already had an important economic impact on Cleveland and will bring quality, accessible healthcare to the residents Cuyahoga County for decades to come.”

Hammes Healthcare is a national consulting firm that provides real estate and market strategy, facility planning, project management and development services to the healthcare industry.

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CLEVELAND—General contractor Turner Construction, based in New York, announced the recent topping out of MetroHealth’s new hospital project, located on the healthcare provider’s West 25th Street main campus on Cleveland’s West Side.

MetroHealth says that the new 10-story hospital, which began construction last December, will feature 270 private, single-occupancy patient rooms—each with the latest technology and floor-to-ceiling windows. Furthemore, the facility will also host a Women’s and Children’s Pavilion as well as areas devoted specifically for family space.

Turner Construction is working on the project in concert with construction management partners Adrian Maldonado and Associates, Ozanne Construction, McTech and Donley’s.

In a recent statement, Turner’s senior project manager, Jeff Abke, said that the project was able to continue safely despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s not just the hospital that needs the new spaces, it’s the 350 workers and their employers that need the continued revenue,” Abke said.

Construction on the $946 million project is being financed via hospital-revenue bonds.  The New Hospital, as it is known, will connect to the existing Critical Care Pavilion on the West 25th Street campus. When fully completed in 2022, the New Hospital will join the still-in-progress elements of a loading dock and central utility plant.

At a groundbreaking ceremony held last year, MetroHealth President and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros said that the hospital will be part of a long-needed revitalization of this area of Cleveland.

“It’s already bringing hope to thousands of people who felt left out of America’s rebound from the Great Recession and Cleveland’s great renaissance,” Akram said last year.  “It is clearly so much more than a hospital.”

The New Hospital is part of an overall redesign of the entire campus, which is estimated to be completed and ready for patients in 2023.

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