The Garden City Telegram

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Hospital on the horizon

Published 2/11/2012 in Local News

By JOSEPH JACKMOVICH

jjackmovich@gctelegram.com

SCOTT CITY — The new Scott County Hospital is rapidly approaching completion nearly two months ahead of its construction schedule.

The 68,000-square-foot building is estimated to be cleared by the fire marshal for occupancy in mid or late March, with patients planned to be moved to the new facility on April 9. The original plan had the hospital set for a May 28 completion date. Groundbreaking for the $24 million hospital took place on Aug. 30, 2010.

With the hospital currently in its final stages of mostly cosmetic touches, Scott County Hospital President and CEO Mark Burnett said the design was meant to be as efficient and appealing as possible to staff, patients and guests. Hospital staff were deeply involved with the design of the hospital, because Burnett said they know best what kind of layout and design would work.

Efficiency was the absolute core of the project, with even the building's southwest face designed specifically to allow the maximum amount of sunlight on the parking lot to melt away ice and snow during winter weather.

The hospital will have 20 acute care beds, two operating rooms, two delivery rooms, 30 exam rooms for resident and out-of-town physicians and four ER patient rooms. The hospital also will provide various rehabilitation and imaging services, a women's care section and an outpatient clinic. There are approximately 200 Scott County Hospital staff, with the core medical team consisting of four family practice physicians, four mid-level caregivers and a surgeon who was recently hired specifically to work at the new facility. Surgeries previously were done by traveling physicians.

"For a small town, we have a surprisingly large array of services to offer," Burnett said.

Project Superintendent Kenny Giese of Nabholz Construction said the only items left to complete were flooring, some electrical work and the IT infrastructure that the hospital's network will work from. Giese said the project was great to work on, with very few change orders during construction and no budget issues. He said the people of the community were excellent to work with, and that he was happy with his team and how the building turned out.

"I'm tickled with the building," Giese said. "Got a great project and a great team."

Burnett said he was pleased with Giese's work, calling it a first-class job.

The main entrance to the hospital is met with a high ceiling with numerous windows for light and gently curving hallways with natural stone along a portion of one wall. The main hallway leads westward to an open dining area that is open to the public, something Burnett said is somewhat unusual for a small hospital.

The dining area is a central feature of the hospital, and Burnett said that if someone loses their way they can get their bearings as long as they know where the dining area is located. A central meeting area near the dining area allows for several configurations, so the room may be broken into two or opening additional seating for people eating.

Across the hallway from the dining area is the surgery waiting area, to allow people to grab a quick bite without leaving the waiting area. Inside the waiting area are four pre/post-op rooms, a scoping room and two operating rooms. The operating rooms already were filled with overhead booms, monitors, lights and other equipment. After construction is completed, two separate teams will give the area a cleaning to make the area completely sterile.

"We're proud of this OR," Burnett said. "This is going to be a whole lot better."

Next door to the surgery section are the two delivery rooms, which Burnett said was done for a reason. In continuing with the plan of efficiency, the delivery rooms were placed next to the operating rooms in case something happened during delivery that required urgent medical attention. In between the two delivery rooms is a central storage area, allowing staff to only have to travel a few feet to get needed supplies regardless of what room they are working in at the time.

Down the hall is the acute care ward, which is designed as two triangles inside of one another with gently curving hallways. The hallways are curved to discourage the travel of sound, which creates quieter patient rooms. The inner triangle of the ward is for storage and supplies, with the rooms taking up the outer triangle. Each room will have Wi-Fi access and a computer terminal to allow staff to review charts and order tests.

"I think this whole building is an interesting design," Burnett said, speaking about the layout of the acute ward. "I didn't want this place to feel like an institution."

Next to the acute care ward is the imaging department, which provides services such as X-rays and mammograms. The area doubles as a Federal Emergency Management Agency storm shelter, with heavy double doors making that area of the hospital feel distinctly different from the rest.

The administrative offices, which consist of seven offices and a board room, were placed on the periphery of the hospital to allow for future expansion.

Burnett said administration is the easiest section to displace, so he wanted it out of the central area so it could be moved more easily if the hospital needs to grow in the future.

On the east side of the hospital are the outpatient services, which include the clinic and rehabilitation. Local physicians each will have their own office and separate hallway of exam rooms, making trips between exams simpler.

The hospital's design as a whole reflects Burnett's desire to bring more accommodating service to the hospital experience. He said he wanted to focus on making the facility seem more like a hotel, allowing patients to center on what they can directly appreciate, like the quality of their rooms and food. He said it was all part of the hospital's motto, "We treat you like family."

Burnett said that most of all he was happy with how the vision he had two years ago was perfectly brought into reality.

He said that while the hopital isn't meant to compete with larger facilities in the area, he intends for the hospital to be top of the line for the population it serves.

"The colors are right, the design is right, and the architecture is right," Burnett said. "In the segment we provide, we aren't going to be second to anyone."

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