The idea: Holy Redeemer Health System adopted a new model of care for its outpatient settings, striving to create vibrant spaces for patient and staff interaction and wellness education. The system turned to its Holy Redeemer Healthcare at Bensalem site in Bensalem, Pa., as the first project to be completed under this vision.
Proportion can go a long way. Anyone who’s stayed in a pint-sized New York City hotel room knows that. Somehow, if the bed, desk, and armoire are arranged just so, the tight accommodations can achieve a homey feel with separate and distinct zones.
So it stands to reason that the same principle couuld be applied to patient rooms.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) is an 894-bed academic medical center that’s part of Northwestern Medicine, with a 117-bed community hospital in Lake Forest, Ill., and more than 25 urban and suburban outpatient clinical sites in and around Chicago.
The new Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida expands Lee Memorial Health System’s pediatric care. The new building will be located on the existing HealthPark Medical Center Campus in Fort Myers, Fla., and will follow these guiding principles:
I love light. The brighter the room, the better (within reason, of course). I strategically set up my office so I’m facing my windows rather than having my back to them. And, admittedly, my husband regularly nags me about having too many lamps on at home.
Acibadem Hospitals Group, a private healthcare provider in Turkey that was recently acquired by global healthcare provider IHH Healthcare, operates 16 regional hospitals but recognized the need for services that are immediately accessible to the urban Istanbul community.
The idea: Lake Pointe Medical Center (LPMC) in Rowlett, Texas, is a 112-bed acute care hospital that was built in 1987 and provides emergency services, an ICU, interventional cardiology, diagnostic imaging, ORs, and women’s services that include a Level II and Level III NICU. Josiah De La Garza, associate administrator of operations, Lake Pointe Health Network, says the organization has committed to updating the facility through smaller-scale projects as opposed to a wholesale renovation.
A lot can happen during any construction project to produce an end result that doesn’t quite align with the design that was originally created. From staff pushing for a change of course to tightening budgets calling for value engineering, there are simply no guarantees.
But for the new Lawrence + Memorial (L+M) Hospital cancer center in Waterford, Conn., the project team got awfully close, says Brenda Bullied, director of facilities innovation and planning for L+M.
Across the healthcare spectrum, hospitals and other facilities are working to break down their institutional settings, asking designers to instead pursue more homelike and hospitality-inspired models. But deinstitutionalizing behavioral health facilities can come with plenty of obstacles regarding the treatment and care of criminal (forensic) populations.
