Archives

The southwest side of Houston is home to two adjoining and struggling neighborhoods: Gulfton and Sharpstown, where more than 30 percent of residents live below the poverty line and high rates of chronic disease persist. Legacy Community Health, a full-service Federally Qualified Health Center that operates 40 clinics in southeast Texas, sought to address those challenges. “We began seven years ago by purchasing a building with an existing practice to serve those neighborhoods,” says Joel Kalmin, director of facilities planning at Legacy Community Health. “Over time, we put that building through three extensive renovations to accommodate our growth there and provide expanded services.”

When a plot of vacant land adjacent to the clinic became available, Legacy saw its chance to expand in a major way and continue to meet growing demand for health services in the area. To accomplish that while keeping the existing 14,000-square-foot building open during construction, the … Read the rest

One of the many ways The Center for Health Design works to make research and practical tools accessible is through the creation of Topic Toolboxes. We’ve produced more than a dozen of these toolboxes on both micro and macro issues, relating to everything from technology to emergency department throughput. Each toolbox contains a wide array of resources to fit every learning style, such as issue briefs, executive summaries, webinars, industry expert interviews, and design strategies. Within each toolbox, some of the resources are open to all and then some are available only to Affiliate+ members.

Creating easy access to the research and resources that design and healthcare professionals need to make informed decisions has never been more important than during this last year. Thanks to a partnership with industrial supply company Grainger, all of the resources in the Safety Toolbox are being made available to everyone until the end of … Read the rest

Seeking new solutions to improve efficiency and increase quality, Penn Medicine envisioned a new offsite Interventional Support Center (ISC) as a comprehensive facility to support multiple facilities throughout the Philadelphia region. The ISC centralizes sterilization of surgical instruments, sterilization of linens, and storage of surgical supplies and soft goods. The consolidation of services at the ISC will standardize instrument processing, instrument sets, and soft goods across the health system. The ISC will allow storage space for extended inventory of supplies on hand. Case carts will be transported to and from the ISC from various facilities in temperature controlled trucks on a prescribed schedule to facilitate maximum efficiency.

Stantec’s team integrated healthcare planners, architects, designers, engineers, and industrial designers to design the new facility. Solutions were tested and validated using time motion studies and simulation modeling to identify gaps and bottlenecks in the flow.

The facility supports a one-way forward flow … Read the rest

Just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, Marin County offers a spectacular natural setting that has long lured city dwellers seeking more space and a direct connection to nature. Marin’s district hospital, MarinHealth Medical Center (formerly Marin General) in Greenbrae, Calif., benefits from those exceptional surroundings with views of Mount Tamalpais, the county’s highest peak; Corte Madera Creek; and an adjacent 27-acre park.

When it came time to address California’s 2030 earthquake-compliance standards, the healthcare organization decided to replace its outdated hospital with a new 265,000-square-foot facility called Oak Pavilion, relocating the majority of the hospital’s essential services and inpatient beds here while still connecting to some of existing campus buildings. The new acute care facility would be designed to improve and enhance the patient and staff experience through larger rooms, modern material and color palettes, and clinical spaces designed to accommodate new technology and treatments, all while … Read the rest

When I was a young professional working in healthcare design, I vividly recall taking conference calls from inside a closet so my clients couldn’t hear my children’s voices from across the room. This was the early 1990s, a time when the thinking on women at work was very cut and dry: Women were either a full-time employee or a stay-at-home parent.  But I had rejected the either/or options and created my own hybrid solution, setting up my own studio in my home and working directly with clients as part of a collaborative team with other independent consultants. This approach gave me a flexible schedule to balance parenting while keeping my career development intact. Still, I couldn’t let clients know I was working at home without it having potential negative implications for my career.

Several decades later, the pandemic has, in some ways, accelerated a shift in our tolerance for working … Read the rest

A lot of boxes need to be ticked when we’re choosing locations for the Healthcare Design Expo & Conference year after year: the right-sized venue, easy travel options, hotel variety, temperate weather, potential for facility tours.

And when you look at Cleveland against that list, it’s a little surprising that we haven’t held the show there until now.

Cleveland Clinic—the No. 2 hospital system in the country per U.S. News & World Report—is probably the first thing that comes to mind, but it’s just the beginning. University Hospitals and The MetroHealth System are two other major healthcare systems in the city, and all three have interesting and innovative projects in the works. Cleveland’s Health-Tech Corridor (HTC), launched in 2010, is a 1,600-acre area catering to biomedical, healthcare, and technology companies, with a turbocharged infrastructure and access to entrepreneurial support services, venture capital funding, thought leadership from nearby academics and … Read the rest

One of the many things that has helped keep me sane and grounded this past year has been religiously getting out of the house and spending time in nature. Thankfully, because I live in California, I have the benefit of sunny and inviting weather most of the year. I’m also fortunate to live in a neighborhood connected to a 6,000-acre regional park, making it easy and convenient to go for short walks or long hikes in the hills. And a 30-inch-deep, blow-up pool I purchased online at the start of the COVID-19 quarantine allowed me to float away the weekends all summer long. I haven’t spent so much time outdoors since I was a kid. During these times, I frequently find myself reciting a favorite quote from biologist and author Rachel Carson: “There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and … Read the rest

Strategies to deliver cancer care are focused on providing more comprehensive services under one roof, inspiring new layouts and approaches to treatment spaces to streamline diagnosis and treatment services. There’s also increased attention being paid to materials selection, biophilic strategies, and access to the outdoors to further support patients as well as the staff members and family members supporting the patient in their care journey. Below, find recent coverage of cancer center projects and planning and design strategies. For more, explore under the Cancer Care Projects section of the HCDmagazine.com website.

Better Use: The David H. Koch Center For Cancer Care At Memorial Sloan Kettering

The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan has innovated the patient, caregiver, and staff experience via design.

Improving The Cancer Care Journey

Understanding a patient’s experience of care is the first step in designing a better … Read the rest

Baptist Health South Florida (Coral Gables, Fla.) has expanded its footprint in the tri-county area with the opening of an outpatient facility in Plantation, Fla., this past January. The 112,000-square-foot medical office building includes an ambulatory surgical center with five operating rooms and outpatient services, such as urgent care, diagnostic imaging, radiation oncology, physical therapy, medical oncology, and primary care. The building also comprises designated suites for services from the health system’s four centers of excellence, including cancer, orthopedic, cardiology, and spine care.

Designed by Gresham Smith (Nashville, Tenn.), the four-story facility has a clean and modern design that’s consistent with other recently completed Baptist Health South Florida facilities. Located on a scenic lake development, the interior features large windows that allow patients to enjoy views of the outdoors while receiving care. A neutral, warm palette is accentuated with pops of blues and greens, with each floor having a specific … Read the rest

Founded in 1942 as the first multispecialty physician practice in New Orleans, Ochsner Health has evolved into Louisiana’s largest nonprofit academic healthcare system with  40 owned, managed, or affiliated hospitals and specialty hospitals, along with more than 100 health and urgent care centers. During the past three decades, much of that expansion has been taking place in Baton Rouge, which sits about 80 miles northwest of its hometown, including a 150-bed hospital on the city’s east side and about 15 smaller clinics throughout its metropolitan area.

In mid-2019, the system opened the largest single investment in its history—the Ochsner Medical Complex – The Grove, a $116 million microhospital with surgical center and medical office building all under one roof on the city’s west side.

Traffic snarls in Baton Rouge were a major factor in the expansion, as crosstown commutes are difficult there. “Baton Rouge has some of the worst traffic … Read the rest