The Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
unveiled its $272 million expansion project — the biggest expansion at the
Wilmington, Del., pediatric hospital since it was created three decades ago.
The project involved the construction of two
almond-shaped towers, encompassing 450,000 square feet, that were erected
adjacent to the existing hospital. The towers feature 144 “technologically
advanced” single-patient rooms, an expanded emergency department and a
five-story atrium.
A 44-bed emergency department nearly doubles the
hospital’s current treatment capacity, and will support the state’s only
Level-I pediatric trauma center.
Patients are scheduled to be transferred into the new
towers Oct. 11 and 12.
Hospital officials said the project represents the most
significant brick-and-mortar investment the Nemours Foundation has made in the
region since the original Alfred I. duPont Institute expanded to become the
Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in 1984.
Planning for the project began five years ago as the
hospital saw the need to upgrade its aging infrastructure and convert from semiprivate
to larger private rooms that could handle technological advancements and
provide space needed to embrace the medical center’s emphasis on involving
families in the care of their children.
"The patient-care experience was being hindered” by
the older facility, said Paul D. Kempinski, the pediatric hospital’s chief
operating officer.
“This is not a building expansion,” he continued. “It is
an improvement project.”
The atrium that connects the two towers will be space not
just for patients and families, but a place for the entire community to use and
enjoy. Nemours plans to have art displays, plays, concerts in the space.
“The atrium will be not just be a beautiful space, it
will come alive,” said Kempinski.
The atrium is also home to the Discovery Zone, an
interactive wall, designed by Kinesis Studio of San Francisco, that allows
people to use gestures to interact with images on a long series of video
screens.
“There’s nothing like this anywhere else,” said Greg
Richey, the CEO of Kinesis Studio.
Kay Holbrook, a registered nurse who served as the
project administrator for Nemours, said the design and features in the
patients' rooms and clinical and public space are based on suggestions from
patients, their families and the hospital staff.
“Our goal is provide children and their families with a
home away from home,” Holbrook said.
Other features of the towers include:
- An expanded pediatric intensive-care unit, including an eight-bed step-down unit for patients on ventilators, with larger private rooms to accommodate bedside technologies and space for families to stay with their child.
- A centralized rooftop helipad designed to provide easy access to operating rooms, critical-care units and the emergency department.
- Family-centered spaces outside the patient rooms — such as lounges, solariums, child life playrooms and pocket parks.
- A rooftop healing garden.
- Free underground parking with 188 covered spaces in addition to complimentary valet parking.
The DuPont Co. donated $2.5 million for the project.
AstraZeneca contributed $1 million.
Skanska USA, which has local offices in Blue Bell, Pa.,
served a general contractor for the project. FKP Architects of Houston was the
architect.
Nemours’ presence in the Philadelphia region also
includes a multispecialty-care center in Newtown Square, Pa., its children’s
clinic in Voorhees, N.J., and its affiliation with academic partner Thomas
Jefferson University. Nemours also has partnerships where its specialists
provide services to patients at medical facilities operated by Main Line
Health, AtlantiCare and South Jersey Healthcare.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
No comments:
Post a Comment