Healthcare

Cancer Centers of Florida opened its $6 million Ocoee Comprehensive Cancer Center on January 13, 2004. The one-story, 16,200-sf facility is sited on 3 acres across from Health Central and will house medical oncology, pharmaceuticals, radiation therapy, diagnostic radiology, and patient support services. Technology will include a medical linear accelerator with intensity modulated radiation therapy capabilities and positron emission tomography scans. Patients will also be able to access clinical research programs and clinical trials at the new center.

O’Connor Hospital broke ground on a new $10 million emergency department in San Jose, Calif., in December 2003. Increasing bed count from 11 to 21, the facility will accommodate a trauma room, two emergency gynecology rooms, and six chest-pain rooms with special monitoring equipment. Turner Construction is the project contractor. The new emergency department will be relocated to the front of the hospital to increase visibility. The hospital is also planning to construct a $2 million endovascular suite.

Merrimack Valley Hospital is nearing completion of a $4.5-million renovation of its Haverhill, Mass., hospital. The project added a 12-bed adult geriatric psychiatry unit, an MRI suite, an outpatient service area, an oncology/cancer center, mammography and ultrasound diagnostics areas, and a small emergency department expansion with new entrances. Merrimack Valley Hospital is part of Essent Healthcare of Nashville, Tenn.

The Texsan Heart Hospital opened in San Antonio on January 13, 2004. The $60-million acute-care facility accommodates 60 beds and will expand eventually to 120 beds providing world-class cardiovascular care. Development is also beginning on a multi-story medical office facility that will be part of the Texsan Heart Hospital Campus.

Pennsylvania Hospital has built a 22,000-sf expansion in Philadelphia on top of an existing building on the historic campus with no disruption to patient care. The 45-bed Peas Critical Care Complex includes self-contained private patient rooms, an oversized patient transport elevator, consultation rooms for physicians and families, state-of-the-are monitoring systems, secure access, and a custom-designed toilet facility in each patient room. Education and teaching areas for staff were also constructed.

WellStar Kennestone Hospital, part of the five-hospital WellStar Health System, is seeking state approval for a new $93 million patient tower in Marietta, Ga. Sited on property behind the existing hospital campus, the 140-bed tower will house medical/surgical patients, bringing the total hospital bed count to 633. The tower will be connected to the hospital at nearly every floor.

Albert Einstein Medical Center completed the $10 million renovation and expansion of its emergency department in November 2003. Nearly doubling previous emergency space, the project created a 23,000-sf emergency department for the North Philadelphia hospital. The facility features an infrared patient tracking system, 33 private exam rooms, two diagnostic imaging rooms, mobile wireless workstations, portable ultrasound machines, and a high-tech decontamination area.

Carolinas HealthCare System is planning the construction of an $85 million children’s hospital in Charlotte, N.C. Sited at Carolinas Medical Center, the new 230-bed facility will open in 2007.

Stony Brook University Hospital has contracted New York-based Cannon Design to provide planning and design services for a $120-million improvement program. A combination of 150,000 sf of renovation and 150,000 sf of new construction, the project will consolidate and expand Women’s and Children’s Services including neonatal intensive care, as well as triple the capacity of the emergency department and renovate and expand surgical services.

South Nassau Communities Hospital is planning a five-story, 160,000-sf addition at their Oceanside, N.Y., facility. The $58 million program will provide 108 medical/surgical beds, six LDRs, an obstetrics suite with 26 private, post-partum beds, and a 30-bed behavioral health unit, along with a renovated entryway to the ground floor garden reception area. The program also calls for modifications to the building systems, including a new mechanical penthouse, and additional parking for 400 cars.

Kaiser Permanente opened a new 70,000-sf medical clinic in Livermore, Calif. in mid-December 2003. The two-story facility will accommodate basic adult and pediatric services, a pharmacy, women’s health, optical sales, and X-ray/laboratory services. An additional 20,000-sf may be developed at the site in the future.

Eden Medical Center has awarded Skanska USA Building the pre-construction services and construction management contract for its new Castro Valley, Calif., complex. Once the project enters the construction phase, the anticipated construction value for the project is expected to be approximately $180 million. The complex is being built in four phases. Phase I consists of a new three-story, 60,000-sf ambulatory care center/medical office building, including four operating rooms, support space, and physician offices above a 250-stall parking garage. The first phase will be completed in 2006.

Kaiser Santa Teresa opened its expanded $8 million emergency department in South San Jose on Dec. 3, 2003. Quadrupling the size of the previous ER, the 17,700-sf facility features private rooms, an increase in bed count from 14 to 25, a delivery room, and a decontamination unit. A spine surgery center will open at the hospital in spring of 2004. Kaiser is also planning a $3.6 million expansion of the hospital pharmacy slated for completion by 2005 that will increase the pharmacy’s footprint threefold.

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) opened its new $21 million University Doctors Pavilion at its in November 2003. As one of the largest free-standing outpatient facilities in South Jersey, the completely remodeled structure includes a 57,000-sf wing, doubling the clinical space on the Stratford campus. The facility houses a standardized patient laboratory for student evaluation. UMDNJ is planning an additional $11 million in construction projects at the campus, including construction already under way on 20,000 sf to 22,000 sf of research laboratory facilities.

Alta Bates Hospital will launch a consolidated women and infants center at its Berkeley campus in July of 2004. Replacing the Oakland Summit campus maternity ward (which will become a cardiovascular services center) the $15 million project will include new labor, delivery, post-partum and recovery rooms, 90 percent of which will be private. The facility will also house a new women’s resource center.