HCD Conference Preview: Facility Tour Of Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview In Metairie, Louisiana
Chad Chenier Photography
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview: Upon entry, patients are greeted by warm wood tones and prominent branding elements. The O-Bar, Ochsner’s version of a technology bar, is where patients can get assistance in choosing the right digital product or app recommended by their physician.
Elizabeth Burris, Ochsner
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview: The first-floor lobby includes patient registration and a “retail interchange” with retail services such as a vision center, hearing solutions center, and medical spa to support patients’ wellness journeys.
Chad Chenier Photography
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview: The therapy and wellness space has a separate entrance for ease of access. Large windows brings daylight into the space, which creates a connection with the outdoors.
Chad Chenier Photography
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview: The second floor houses pre- and post-surgery suites, which are shared by different departments, including surgery, pain management, endoscopy, and cath lab.
Chad Chenier Photography
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview: The adaptive and technology-ready operating rooms can support multiple types of surgeries and procedures. The integration of robots and a centralized control of medical devices enhances the function of the operating rooms and allows monitoring and communication throughout the entire Ochsner Health system.
Elizabeth Burris, Ochsner
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview: A focus on integrating natural daylight into the facility was a major design focus in the shared waiting rooms on the first and third floors.
Chad Chenier Photography
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview: Centrally located nurses’ stations become the core of each clinic pod. The pod design and floor plan allow for modularity and flexibility, ensuring each area can easily adapt to current and future patient and provider needs without the need to renovate the perimeter patient areas.
The HCD Conference + Expo facility tours offer a chance to highlight some of the latest design ideas and community strategies at work in the host city. This year’s event in New Orleans includes three tours from 1-5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4.
Here’s a profile of one of those tours. For tour registration or more on the HCD Conference + Expo, Nov. 4-7 in New Orleans, visit hcdexpo.com.
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview, Metairie, La.
Ochsner Health (New Orleans) partnered with Grace Hebert Curtis Architects (GHC; Baton Rouge, La.) to develop Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview, a patient-centered, comprehensive health and wellness facility in Metairie, La.
Housed in a former retail department store, the three-level, 202,000-square-foot facility comprises primary and specialty care clinics as well as an outpatient surgical unit with eight operating rooms, drive-thru pharmacy, endoscopy suites, esthetics and wellness center, and 10-bed microhospital.
Patients also have access to dermatology, cardiology, neurology, ophthalmology, diagnostic imaging, and outpatient infusion services. The facility also includes a comprehensive pain management center, sinus center, physical therapy and wellness gym, and Ochsner’s signature interactive O Bar, which includes a variety of physician recommended products, such as activity monitors, and wireless blood pressure monitors, and features an iPad bar. Patients can get set up with the right equipment to participate in digital medicine programs for diabetes, hypertension, and chemotherapy care companion.
Flexible clinic planning
To operationalize Ochsner Health’s collaborative care approach, the facility was designed around the patient experience with careful consideration paid to department adjacencies and patient/provider circulation routes. Patients do not have to travel to different facilities to receive care and can see multiple specialists in a single visit and single location. For example, a hematology patient could possibly schedule their infusion, physician visit, and blood work on the same day in the same building.
Departments with associated medical care are adjacent to each other to reduce walking distances for both patients and providers. For example, imaging, phlebotomy, and pharmacy are located on the first floor for easy access for patients to use these services before or after their visits. Surgery and pre-post recovery is centralized on the second floor and the third floor offers multidisciplinary clinics with room for future growth.
GHC developed a variety of organizational options including evaluating nurse station, provider station, and exam room adjacencies to maximize staff efficiency and quality of care. Extensive research on various types of clinic pods, along with meetings with departments to gather input on clinic flow needs, ultimately delivered a design that will accomplish both. The clinic pod size was standardize throughout including the shell space on the third floor allowing a clinic to be moved and another to grow as required.
Employing a hospitality aesthetic
The design team developed a high-end hospitality aesthetic that includes access to natural light and a finish palette of terrazzo, tile, and wood-looking metal and vinyl materials to create a relaxing environment for patients during their appointments. These materials blend with Ochsner’s signature blue color and branding elements.
As a finishing touch, artwork from the region is displayed throughout the facility to enhance the overall design while supporting local artists.
Ochsner Medical Complex – Clearview project details
Location: Metairie, La.
Completion: February 2023
Owner: Ochsner Health
Total building area: 202,000 sq. ft. (three floors)
Total construction cost: N/A
Cost/sq. ft.: N/A
Architecture firm: Grace Hebert Curtis Architects LLC
Interior design: Grace Hebert Curtis Architects LLC
General contractor: Broadmoor LLC
Engineering: Duplantis Design Group PC (civil), Morphy, Makofsky Inc. (structural), YKMH Consulting LLC (electrical and mechanical)
Art consulting and procurement: Where y’Art Works
