St. Joseph’s opens new surgical tower

SYRACUSE — St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center listened “intently” to the people who would work in the Christina M. Nappi Surgical Tower.

That’s according to Dr. Richard Waldman, president of the St. Joseph’s medical staff, who spoke during the formal opening ceremony the hospital held Sept. 4.

As the planning process continued, the hospital sought input from the nursing staff, the surgeons, and the physicians’ assistants on how they could best function in the new facility, he noted.

“From the private rooms with a view, from the mechanical lifts on every bed, to the spacious work areas, this hospital has done it very, very well,” Waldman contended.

The $63 million, 104,000-square-foot tower includes 110 private rooms and new intensive-care units, St. Joseph’s said in a news release describing the facility.

“To give you some orientation, you are in [the surgical tower’s] family-waiting room,” Kathryn Ruscitto, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital, told the assembled crowd at the ceremony, noting the significance of the venue.

The 4,000-square-foot surgical-waiting room has seating for about 135, the hospital said.

The Central New York regional economic-development council defined it as a priority economic-development project, Kenneth Adams, president, CEO, and commissioner of Empire State Development, said during his remarks.

“It became abundantly clear to us back in Albany that this was vital for health-care services for employment, for community development, for a whole host of economic impacts that the project has in Syracuse and beyond,” said Adams.

The surgical tower is part of the final phase of an expansion project the hospital outlined in a long-range plan unveiled in 2004, according to a historical timeline posted at the hospital’s website.

The Hayner Hoyt Corporation of Syracuse served as the construction manager, while King + King Architects, LLP, also of Syracuse, designed the surgical tower, the hospital said.

More than 1,100 construction workers helped in the building process, a figure that represents all area building trades, according to a fact sheet that St. Joseph’s provided.

“You’ve constructed a building where the rooms are designed to meet the needs of the patients where the identical layouts of the rooms make it easier for staff,” Dr. Howard Zucker, acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, said during the ceremony.

Hospitals are thinking about situations to make the work of their physicians easier, he contends

“Work stations that enable health-care providers to be able to work collaboratively and to work with patients and to work with the families as well,” he said.

The new surgical tower is named after Christina Nappi. Her son and daughter-in-law, Samuel and Carol, made a donation to the project on behalf of their family, in honor of Christina Nappi.

The surgical tower isn’t the only St. Joseph’s facility bearing Nappi’s name. It is also part of the hospital’s new emergency-services building, along with that of her late husband, Ralph Nappi.

St. Joseph’s also used its news release to outline how it is financing the expansion project.

The Central New York regional economic-development council had identified the Phase 2B expansion as a priority project. The state then awarded the hospital a $2.5 million grant for the project, St. Joseph’s said.

In addition, the Onondaga Civic Development Corp., a local development corporation that Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney recently formed, provided St. Joseph’s an inducement of $177 million for tax-exempt bonding, the hospital said.

The Corporation has the authority to assist nonprofit organizations that undertake economic-development projects.

The remainder of the investment will come from hospital reserves, along with the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation’s Generations capital campaign, the hospital added.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com