Modernizing space in an active hospital is among the most challenging work in the construction industry. Managing interim life safety measures, micro-phasing and coordination of construction adjacent to life or death procedures requires an experienced group of people with knowledge of hospital operations. St. Joseph Hospital’s relationship with Harvey has spanned decades – so they relied on Harvey to plan and renovate the existing emergency department space. After a year of engineering, and a 10-month renovation period, the hospital opened its emergency department doors to the public in April 2014.
As the hospital’s construction manager, Harvey worked with a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, hospital staff, architects, engineers and the St. Joseph Hospital Patient and Family Advisory Council to ensure patient needs, comfort and safety were priorities within the space while making the caregivers more efficient. The new space offers physicians and nurses a modern and streamlined floor plan which increases visibility and patient care. The newly designed department has enhanced patient and family privacy and comfort by offering 23-large private treatment rooms, an improved patient registration commons and a family comfort room. The addition of two new trauma rooms, a bariatric room and a dedicated suite of three rooms specifically constructed for psychiatric evaluations and Behavioral Health patients ensured that the ED was fully equipped to handle any type of emergency.
Importantly, the renovation integrated state-of-the-art technology to one of the busiest departments in the hospital, while also improving functionality and the overall emergency department environment. The emergency department features larger private treatment rooms equipped with bedside cardiac monitoring and an overhead surgical lighting which has improved the functionality of each room and added a central treatment core to monitor patients more effectively. To increase access to necessary imaging equipment and specialized care a dedicated x-ray room was incorporated into the design increasing the efficiencies for the care team and reducing wait times for patients. The expansion of technology in every area of the department has provided better communication between doctors, nurses and members of the patient care team.
Considerable efforts were also made to incorporate the hospital’s sustainability initiative into the design. Outside windows provide the space with ambient light, and low-energy LED lamps are used throughout the department. In addition, all building materials were selected to be as energy efficient and renewable as possible.