Mt. Vernon Rings in New Health Center

MT. VERNON, Ill. — The bell tower at the newly constructed Good Samaritan Regional Health Center in Mt. Vernon is already filled with handcrafted bells purchased by the community in support of the medical facility. The tower in the hospital’s chapel was designed based on an old traditional catholic church that would hang a bell representing an individual in the community that donated money, and over time more bells would be added creating a louder sound. In this case, the bells sold immediately and are already ringing at capacity — a true testament to the community’s support of the 382,000-square-foot health center.

Construction on the 134-bed replacement facility for St. Mary’s Good Samaritan began in March 2010 and opened to the public on Jan. 27. Indianapolis-based BSA LifeStructures served as the design architect, and San Francisco-headquartered McCarthy Building Companies was the builder. The new structure features private patient rooms, advanced nurse care stations and convenient outpatient services nearby the hospital, and it was designed by combining a holistic healing approach with evidence-based design.

“The existing facility needed an upgrade, and the community got behind them and had the ability to build the facility. We built it to improve patient and staff safety, as well as to pay attention to patient and family experience,” said Derek Selke, BSA LifeStructures’ director of architecture and lead designer on the project.

To make the facility safer for patients and staff, BSA LifeStructures designed the patient rooms in a way that reduced the distance from the patient bed to the toilet room, a pathway in which 90 percent of patient falls occur. The patient’s bed was also positioned at a 10-degree angle, which gives the caregiver enough space for treatment while still minimizing that bed-to-toilet-room gap. More than 50 percent of the rooms also include a ceiling-mounted patient lift to prevent any straining on the patient or staff when the patient tries to get out of bed.

The design focuses on the family experience, too, making it so that part of the patient room includes a dedicated space for family members. Throughout the hospital, there are what Selke calls “positive distractions” to reduce stress levels in family members and those patients well enough to walk. The bell tower, chapel and several healing gardens, were built to allow space for reflection, as well as to promote healing through the use of art and nature. Artwork commissioned by more than a dozen regional artists decorates these spaces. The 100-seat chapel, for instance, draws onlookers with a colorful stained-glass wall.

The new health center also incorporates the Outpatient Procedure Center, which offers services such as endoscopy, angiography, infusion, nutrition, counseling and blood draw. It was built within walking distance of the hospital as a one-stop shop to help shorten patient visits, as well as improve wayfinding and decrease walking distances for patients at the facility.

Although Selke said the 30-month construction period was difficult to achieve, the construction team decided to use prefabrication construction techniques to help reduce time and costs. For example, the patient room headwalls and restrooms were built in an off-site warehouse. The team also used Bluebeam document controls to track design changes in real time, improving coordination and overall efficiency.