by Brianna Crandall — March 11, 2016—Hospitals in Missouri, Virginia and North Carolina are the recipients of this year’s prestigious Vista Awards, which will be presented at the 2016 International Summit and Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design and Construction (PDC Summit) in San Diego, California, March 20-23.
The Vista Awards, presented by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association, recognize the significance of collaboration in creating optimal healthcare environments. Each winning team has exemplified outstanding teamwork in all stages of their respective healthcare projects, from pre-planning to the final reveal.
The healthcare project winners in each category of the 2016 Vista Awards are described below.
New Construction: SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – Jefferson City, Jefferson City, MO
The project team set out to build a facility that would support staff and physicians while exceeding expectations for safety, compassion, and innovation. The new hospital includes a six-story inpatient tower, a four-story medical office building, a diagnostic center, emergency center, outpatient treatment center, and other specialty clinics. During the course of the project, the team faced several challenges, including a project hold and hospital management turnover. Planning for transitions and communicating often helped minimize these challenges, and the team used lean construction methodologies and a collaborative approach.
The new hospital has met its goals and patient satisfaction scores have improved in multiple areas. Using lean construction helped the team complete the project under budget and two months earlier than scheduled, avoiding a winter move during a high census period.
Renovation: Emergency department expansion and renovation at VCU Health, Richmond, VA
The renovation project encompassed more than 67,000 square feet of space on the ground floor of the main hospital. The project was completed in four major phases spanning five years. Two major challenges for the team included: first, renovating the emergency department — operating 24 hours a day — with minimal disruption, and second, maintaining at least 65 exam rooms available at all times.
The team worked to build consensus with hospital and emergency department leaders on a phased plan that would meet those requirements. Midway through the project, hospital leadership requested a change in the phasing priorities that resulted in a more complex phasing plan and renovation work directly in the middle of the emergency department, splitting it in half. Through strong and effective communication, the team was able to meet this request, and the resequencing allowed the renovated imaging department to open almost a year ahead of schedule.
Infrastructure: Carolinas HealthCare System Pineville, Charlotte, NC
The hospital expanded over the last 10 years to accommodate population growth in the Charlotte area, but the central energy plant in the middle of campus was undersized to support the additional square footage. Because of the central location of the plant, it could not be expanded, so the design team created a plan to replace the plant in the back of the campus.
The team faced several challenges stemming from the fact that there was no downtime for transitioning to the new plant since the existing plant was serving an operational hospital. The team established new normal power service for the hospital, working closely with the design team working on a patient tower. The design of the new plant allows for future expansions without interrupting service. The project came in under budget and has prompted significant energy savings. The plant’s chilled water system is said to be the most efficient within the Carolinas HealthCare System.
For more information about the Vista Awards and the winning projects, visit the ASHE Web site.
