| October 24, 2008 | Media contact: Krista Hopson E-mail: khopson@umich.edu Phone: 734-764-2220 |
Children's, women's building project grows to meet patient demand
Facility will now include MRI/OR, more private patient beds, additional MRIs
Aerial view of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital & Women's Hospital project
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. –The University of Michigan Health System is intensifying its commitment to children’s and women’s health care in the state and across the nation – as well as its investment in the Michigan economy – to meet the high demand for patient care services.
Today the University of Michigan Regents will be asked to approve a plan to enhance the scope and budget for the U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital building project.
With its sights set on future patient care needs and advances in medical technology, the majority of shelled space will be completed within the new facility, currently under construction on the U-M medical campus.
Building out this interior space will allow for the addition of 84 private patient beds, two magnetic resonance imaging units, an operating room and an inter-operative MRI Operating Room suite. Plus, unfinished shell space will still remain for possible future growth in emergency medicine, radiology and surgery. The expansion approved today by the Regents will cost $231 million, and the facility will open in fall 2012.
The project, designed by HKS Architects, will be funded through philanthropy and hospital reserves. Already, UMHS has raised more than $50 million of its $75 million fund-raising goal for the new facility.
“The fast-changing world of health care – new treatments and technology – is driving increased demand for obstetric and pediatric patient care,” says Patricia A. Warner, associate hospital director and chief administrative officer, C. S. Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital. “By enhancing the scope of this building project, we’ll be able to not only open the doors to a new facility that will accommodate advances in medical technology, but also one that will provide the best care possible to the women and children in Michigan and across the country.”
In addition to other improvements at the hospital, a new MRI/OR will be brought in to assist surgeons when they operate on children with brain tumors, hydrocephalitis and other conditions. The MRI/OR will allow neurosurgeons to see the images from an MRI scan while they are operating on a patient, rather than waiting until an MRI is performed after the surgery.
The images will show how much of a tumor has been removed and how much still needs to be resected, and will improve surgeons' ability to navigate around areas of functionality in the brain. This will prevent patients from needing a second operation in many cases because surgeons now will have all of the information they need during the course of the surgery.
"This will dramatically improve the quality of care we offer to our patients," says Karin M. Muraszko, M.D., chair of the U-M Department of Neurosurgery and chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery. "The MRI/OR allows us to push the boundaries of what we are able to do in neurological surgery."
Along with the MRI/OR, the new 1.1 million-square-foot children’s and women’s facility will now include 13 pediatric operating rooms, four pediatric surgical procedure rooms, four Caesarean section suites, and 348 private inpatient beds, including 50 single room maternity care beds upon completion.
Prominent in both size and scope, the hospitals will host wide spans of glass to bring natural lighting into the facility, and will provide inpatient rooms with scenic views of the Nichols Arboretum and Huron River. The design also will incorporate curved forms and building insets that relate to the arboretum – humanizing the scale of the hospital. A sky-lit canopy will greet patients and guests while a two-story lobby and waiting area – overlooking outdoor courtyards – will create an inviting entry into the facility. Focused on family-centered care, the interior will offer a warm and welcoming environment for patients and families, many of whom provided feedback on the layout and design of patient rooms.
UMHS also plans to pursue LEED certification for the building project, which will feature a green roof with a grass-like top designed to decrease run-off and provide insulation.
Construction for the new facility is well underway. Steel for the 12-story in-patient tower has been erected, and the steel work is near completion for the nine-story clinic tower. In all, 12,906 pieces of structural steel will be used for the building project.
While the new facility is being built, the existing Mott and Women’s hospitals are implementing new work processes and reconfiguring space to best serve patients and their families. Physicians, nurses, administration and staff are collaborating to decrease patients’ length of stay at the hospitals. Plus, operating room hours have been extended to accommodate demand for pediatric surgical services, and in January, Mott will open another six beds for pediatric intensive care patients.
UPCOMING EVENT: Beam signing
The U-M Health System is set to celebrate another milestone for the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital building project: The completion of structure steel. On Wednesday, Oct. 29 a beam signing will be held to mark the occasion. The beam signing event will be held at noon on the roof of Taubman Parking Structure A, next to the construction site on the U-M medical campus.
Speakers at the event include: U-M President Mary Sue Coleman; U-M Regent Andrea Fischer Newman; UMHS CEO Robert P. Kelch, M.D.; C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital & Women’s Hospital associate hospital director and chief administrative officer Patricia A. Warner, M.P.H.; Domino’s Pizza LLC chairman and CEO David Brandon; Mott Foundation CEO and president Bill White; and Mike Hartwell, the father of a Mott patient
To learn more about the new building project and the beam signing event, visit www.mottchildrenshospital.org
Written by Krista Hopson and Katie Vloet
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