UTICA — Nearly four years after breaking ground on the Wynn Hospital, officials at Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) can see the finish line. However, there is still a lot that needs to happen before the planned Oct. 29 opening date. At this point, much of the construction work is done or close to complete […]
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UTICA — Nearly four years after breaking ground on the Wynn Hospital, officials at Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) can see the finish line. However, there is still a lot that needs to happen before the planned Oct. 29 opening date.
At this point, much of the construction work is done or close to complete on the more than $600 million project, so the focus now shifts to preparing for operations, Darlene Stromstad, president and CEO of MVHS, tells CNYBJ in an interview.
“We are not just picking up two hospitals and putting them into a new building,” she notes. “We are basically redeveloping the way we provide health care.”
The nursing model is changing, as is the layout of where various services are located. New information-technology platforms are being implemented and everyone needs to learn where the fire extinguishers and emergency exits are located.
“Everybody will go through safety drills, OSHA drills,” Stromstad says. All the computers need to be working and the phones up and running so employees can hit the ground running on Oct. 29 when the facility goes live.
“The concept of a new facility is becoming very real,” says Stromstad.
The process leading up to this new facility began several years ago with a deep look at the health-care needs of the community, she notes. MVHS knew it needed a new hospital, and it wanted to make sure that facility focused on the services the area needs. That includes cardiology, stroke/neurology, maternity care, and all surgical services, she says.
MVHS then took that information to Seattle, Washington–based architecture firm NBBJ to design the building with an eye to infection prevention and patient privacy. MVHS then hired Providence, Rhode Island–based firm Gilbane Building Company, which has offices in Albany and Rochester, to build it.
The 10-story, 702,000-square-foot hospital includes 373 beds with about 30 private rooms on each of nine floors, 47 emergency department treatment spaces, a quick-access elevator connecting the emergency department to the birthing center, dedicated food/delivery elevators separate from patient/visitor elevators, conference and meeting space located on the edges of departments to allow for shared use, and design/layout elements to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of errors.
“It is a really magnificent building,” Stromstad contends. “It all makes such great sense today.” Patient areas are separate from visitor areas, and services are located in places where it makes sense, such as radiology located right next to the emergency department.
Overall, the hospital will be easier to navigate for staff and patients alike, she says. A lot of thought was put into the main entrance and emergency department entrance. Greeters will be on hand to help patients get to where they need to be. “Many of our patients do not speak English as their first language,” Stromstad says, so there will be interpreters stationed near the entrances as well.
MVHS is planning an Oct. 15 event to give the public the chance to tour the building before it is occupied. Then, the Wynn Hospital will be open for business on Oct. 29.
The health system is working with Health Care Relocations, a Canadian company with U.S. offices in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, to facilitate the move.
“They have moved more than 500 hospitals, so they know what they are doing,” Stromstad says.
Hammes Company, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based health-care consulting firm has served as a project-management company to facilitate the project.
Funding for the $611 million Wynn Hospital project comes from a $300 million grant from the New York State Department of Health and a $50 million donation from casino magnate Steve Wynn’s family foundation. MVHS also secured $180 million in financing through Barclays, a multinational investment bank and financial-services company.
Earlier this year, the Oneida Indian Nation donated $1 million, and John and Deanna Sammon contributed $1.5 million.
Formed in 2014, MVHS is an affiliation between St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare, which also includes MVHS Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Visiting Nurse Association of Utica and Oneida County, and Senior Network Health.
MVHS is working with the City of Utica for its St. Elizabeth campus and Oneida County for its St. Luke’s campus on requests for proposals for reuse of those legacy hospital buildings.