Fast Facts

Architect: ZGF Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, Portland

Contractor: Hoffman Construction Company, Portland

Dimensions: 110,000 square feet on four levels

Cost: $45 million

Completion date: February 2013

On-site project managers: Ben Pfau, Bay Area Hospital’s chief information and facilities officer; Karl Delzotti, director, facilities management

Additional, Expanded, and Improved Patient Care Drive the Project

The Bay Area Hospital Expansion makes possible new and improved patient care and an enhanced working environment for staff. Major benefits include:

• Interventional cardiology. The first heart services of this kind available on the Oregon Coast will be housed in the new space. Planned services include a catheter lab with the capacity for emergency and elective coronary interventions by 2013.
• Expanded and improved critical care. The unit will grow from 10 beds to 12 and be located on the second floor.
• Private rooms. Private rooms are proven to provide greater patient confidentiality, sleep quality, infection control, and overall improved patient satisfaction. All 30 of the new patient rooms will be on the third floor and include rooming-in accommodations for family.
• Centralized outpatient services. All outpatient services will be conveniently located on the ground floor. Rehabilitation units will have adequate space to accommodate the most modern equipment.

The Best Design for Patient-Centered Care and New Technology

The word hospital can bring to mind a sterile, bland institution with harsh lighting and lots of stainless steel. While this accurately describes most hospitals built decades ago, expect something far different from the Bay Area Hospital Expansion now under construction.

Envision instead a welcoming space flooded with natural light. The expansive lobby is warmly decorated with natural wood and stone. Artwork adorns the walls, and comfortable furniture invites visitors to relax.

Patient rooms carry on the theme. All are private and softened by natural light, soothing colors, and artwork. Rooming-in accommodations for family are in keeping with evidence that having family present can help patients heal. Engineered building materials soften sound, and everything works together to create calm. It is an environment designed for healing.

“A growing body of research clearly demonstrates the benefits of healing environments in healthcare settings,” says Bay Area Hospital CEO Paul Janke. “Evidence-based design reduces stress and alleviates the negative consequences of stress. Patients can expend their energy to fight disease, not their surroundings. We are excited to be creating an environment that can do all that.”

All that—and more. Belying the new structure’s warm and welcoming atmosphere, multiple layers of cutting-edge technology and construction innovations will be at work behind the scenes.

“The Expansion is freestanding, and it will be the most stable, earthquake-resistant building on the Oregon Coast,” says Janke. It will also be one of the most energy efficient.

“This will be a state-of-the-art building, incorporating best-practice design into the structure and also into the systems supporting it. For example, a heat-recovery system will reclaim heat generated from dedicated technology rooms and transfer it directly into the building’s water-heating systems.” - says Ben Pfau, Chief Information and Facilities Officer.

Other features include:

• Leading-edge ventilation systems will improve indoor air quality, and high-efficiency air filters will help prevent airborne infections.
• A pneumatic tube system shared with the original hospital building will eliminate the need to physically carry supplies, medications, lab samples, and related materials.
• Ceiling-mounted lifts installed over patient beds will reduce staff exposure to injury. Lifts will initially be available in seven rooms in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), eight orthopaedics rooms, and eight rooms in the medical/surgical unit.
• Low-energy lighting will be used throughout the facility, and sensors will control lighting levels based on the availability of natural light.
• A Communications System will facilitate communication among nurses and physicians.
• Decentralized supplies and medication storage will place key items in patient rooms to minimize frequency of fetching by staff.

 “Healthcare facilities that combine the best in patient-centered design and the latest in technology and efficiency are proven to improve patient satisfaction and staff performance,” says Janke. “We owe it to our community and the south coast region to provide the best care possible.”