Iowa HealthÔÇôDes Moines

Building the future of healthcare Keith Regan learns how Iowa HealthÔÇôDes MoinesÔÇÖ building program rises on a foundation of thinking first about patientsÔÇÖ comfort, safety and satisfaction. Iowa HealthÔÇôDes Moines has long recognized the need to grow beyond the three major hospitals already in its networkÔÇöIowa Methodist Medical Center, Blank ChildrenÔÇÖs Hospital and Iowa Lutheran Hospital. In fact, plans for a fourth major hospital have been on the drawing board since 2002. That building, currently known as Iowa HealthÔÇôDes Moines West (a name likely to change before it opens), is becoming a reality, and it has been designed and is being built with a single objective. ÔÇ£We make our decisions with patient satisfaction and safety in the front of our minds,ÔÇØ says Sherrilyn (Sherry) Stewart, director of design, construction & properties for Iowa HealthÔÇôDes Moines, which also operates a number of specialty care centers, clinics and physician offices. Work has been under way on the new 95-bed, $118 million facility for 10 months, keeping it on the original schedule, Stewart says. This project took advantage of being able to start from the ground up with design. Every opportunity to make improvements to the care given to patients and their families and the working environment for the staff and physicians was seized by the design team, led by Gary Van Dyke, Shive-Hattery Architecture and Engineering. ÔÇ£We know that people who come to the hospital are anxious, and thatÔÇÖs understandable,ÔÇØ Stewart says. ÔÇ£They are putting their lives and their health in the hands of strangers, and they fear losing their dignity; privacy and control. We have developed ways that can reduce those fears and give them back control over their lives.ÔÇØ By providing all private rooms; control over room lighting (10 different settings) and black-out draperies; temperature controls; a room fan; 32-inch LCD flat-screen TV and DVD player; lockable storage space in the room; and on-call ÔÇ£room serviceÔÇØ meal delivery, patients are allowed to be a part of their healing process and retain control.ÔÇ£Patient safety is a primary tenet of our design as well,ÔÇØ Stewart notes. Providing two sinks, hand sanitizers and small equipment disinfectant sheets in every room to enforce the stringent hand-washing policy; installing only childproof electrical outlets in all public areas; placing illuminated handrails in patient rooms for a lighted path to the bathroom; installing flooring that is resistant to some falls; and providing high-quality air flow are just a few of the ways that increased safety is provided. ÔÇ£And working with The Weitz Company, our GC/CM for this project, we have implemented strict infection-control techniques during the construction process (pre-risk assessment) to assure a safe and clean facility.ÔÇØ The Weitz Company has also brought to the table Building Information Modeling, and Iowa HealthÔÇôDes Moines is utilizing lean principles to manage the aggressive schedule.The entire facility will be equipped with a wireless network, and a hard-wired network will provide emergency backup and redundancy. Each room will also be equipped with telemetry equipment and terminals to enable paperless charting and treatment ordering. ÔÇ£We have designed a green, sustainable building utilizing many of the US Green Building CouncilÔÇÖs criteria. We are specifying materials that are reused, recycled, recovered or reduced,ÔÇØ Stewart states. They are also taking measures to improve the indoor air quality and water efficiency. Construction-stage programs include efforts to recycle or salvage construction waste and site debris and the use of low-VOC sealants and paints, as well as installing locally sourced and recycled materials. Other green elements include steps to reduce the heat-island effect of the building, such as utilizing white PVC roofing and using concrete instead of asphalt for parking lot paving.Though the work on the new hospital is a major focus for Stewart and her department, facility improvements are ongoing throughout the system, often aimed at upgrading the capabilities for delivering specific types of care. For instance, within the past year alone, upgrade or replacement work was aimed at an MRI facility, a vascular procedure room, a catheter lab, a PET scan and an electrophysiology lab. The system also just marked the completion of an addition and renovation to the surgery department at Iowa Methodist Medical Center aimed at improving outpatient and traditional surgery facilities, including updating the ORs, the separation of pediatric and adult patients; increasing the efficiency related to changes in patient flow and adding space to provide a healing environment for patients and their families. That $19 million project posed a special challenge because it had to be completed without disrupting ongoing care, since the surgical units remained in full operation during the three-year construction period. ÔÇ£The doctors and nurses deserve a lot of credit for working with us to ensure that we could do the work that had to be done,ÔÇØ Stewart says. ÔÇ£We all worked together to provide excellent patient care while upgrading the facility.ÔÇØAs with the new West hospital, many of the people involved believe they are performing an important service by giving doctors, nurses and support staff the facilities they need to deliver the best possible care and to help save and improve the quality of peopleÔÇÖs lives. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs very satisfying and rewarding to be able to pull off all the logistics and make a project come together,ÔÇØ she adds. ÔÇ£From the architects to the general contractors to all the subs, thereÔÇÖs been a special spirit of teamwork. Maybe itÔÇÖs because itÔÇÖs a hospital and we know it will save lives. That service aspect is probably why we are all in this part of the business. I know thatÔÇÖs why I do it.ÔÇØ ┬á