Making Healthcare Facility Renovation Or Update Moves With Little Disruption

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The need for high-functioning healthcare facilities is as clear as ever.

But what happens when a procedural suite needs to be upgraded? Or a major piece of medical equipment needs to be replaced to provide new treatment options to patients?

Traditionally, healthcare facility renovations or updates to large equipment can put essential treatment areas out of commission. However, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology, a new form of Building Information Modeling (BIM) that uses lasered beams of light to measure distance, can be used during a project’s exploratory phase to help. LiDAR provides an understanding of the space inside walls and ceilings and under floors before demolition, greatly reducing the amount of time it takes to prepare for and realize improvements.

Utilizing this technology during non-critical hours of operation, a project team can create a 3-D scan of existing conditions, including sections and elevations, and 3-D views of a designated workspace—all without impacting a hospital’s daily activities. Sometimes discoveries made during this process prompt improvements to plans or allow the project team to avoid issues that may not have been realized until after demolishing a space.

Columbia recently partnered with a longtime healthcare client to use LiDAR to provide 3-D existing conditions scans for several CT rooms, one of which contained one of the only units in the region for bariatric patients. The goal was to replace the CT machines on a fast timeline and avoid unforeseen issues that could add to the project schedule and budget.

A limited number of team members visited the hospital during off-hours and scanned all relevant areas. The scans were uploaded and shared with the project partners, avoiding the need to bring a large group through the facility—a critical feature especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it’s essential to limit the number of personnel visiting a facility. Furthermore, utilizing the shared scans online helped establish early and effective collaboration among the design, construction, hospital leadership, and equipment vendor teams, with everyone relying on the same set of factual information.

For this particular project, the LiDAR scan improved and streamlined the process in several ways. For example, during a review of the existing conditions scan during a virtual meeting, a team member noticed an existing nurse call button located on one of the CT room walls that had been missed earlier. This detail required bringing in an additional subcontractor to change the positioning of the electrical system, and recognizing this issue before work got underway meant that the team could properly price and schedule the project.

Because we had scanned areas both below the floor and above the ceiling, the project team could also examine the placement of the existing equipment support beams. Knowing whether these were positioned in parallel or perpendicular fashion ensured the new CT units could be properly fitted without any last-minute headaches. The equipment support vendor was also engaged much earlier in the project, ensuring an accurate budget and proper scheduling.

The information gained using LiDAR technology can enable project teams to confidently design and prepare the layout of the structural support for the installation of new hospital equipment; identify the best placement of equipment with regards to access and end-user maneuverability; highlight and prepare for all utility maintenance access needed during construction; and more accurately time procurement of new equipment and feel secure that it will fit the space requirements.

Healthcare is a constantly evolving arena, and LiDAR technology can help address the challenges associated with necessary equipment replacement and space remodels, making it a welcome tool for the industry.

 

Source: healthcare design

Turner Construction Completes Denver’s Behavioral Health Solutions Center

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Turner Construction has successfully completed the new Behavioral Health Solutions Center on behalf of the City and County of Denver.

The architect for the project was Davis Partnership Architects. Turner provided preconstruction and construction services, including interior demolition and build out to support conversion from a family crisis center to a mental health support facility to be operated by the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD).

(PHOTO CREDIT: Brad Nicol Photograph)

The 28,741-square-foot facility is located at 2929 W. 10th Avenue in Denver and is designed to accommodate patients in crisis for brief inpatient stays on the first floor, transitioning to treatment of up to thirty days on the third floor. The program includes reception and common areas, laundry facilities, 46 bedrooms with exterior windows, nurse stations, restrooms and showers, private client meeting rooms, exam space, kitchen and dining space, gymnasium, and administrative support areas. The bottom floor of the facility features anti-ligature fixtures and other components typical for mental healthcare.

“We’re honored to complete another successful project on behalf of the City and County of Denver and provide a modern facility to accommodate people in crisis,” said Eric Erickson, project manager, Turner Construction. “Our team takes great pride in understanding the unique needs and nuances of every project we work on, and it results in buildings that fulfill the vision of our clients.”

 

Source: Mile High CRE

Jackson Health To Build Emergency Medical Hub In Coral Gables

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Work will begin in six months on a new emergency medical facility in Coral Gables, Florida, that will serve Jackson Health System patients inside the city and within five miles of it.

Miami-Dade commissioners voted unanimously for the project at their final full meeting of 2020, advancing the latest expansion for the nonprofit public healthcare system that since 1918 has grown from community hospital with 13 beds to a network of thousands.

The single-story building, referred to in Miami-Dade documents as the Jackson Health Emergency Department at Galiano, will be built on two county-owned parcels on the corner of Oviedo Avenue and Southwest Eighth Street, also known as Galiano Street.

“The 10,170-square-foot facility will have dual functions,” a Dec. 15 memo from Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

The larger emergency department will have eight exam rooms and support space, two resuscitation rooms and computerized tomography and radiology equipment. The building will also serve as primary care space with six exam rooms.

There will be 36 parking spaces outside, including two that are compliant with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements. Some spaces will be convertible for electric vehicle charging in the future.

Materials attached to a prior memo by former county Mayor Carlos Giménez shows architectural and design firm Gresham Smith and engineering design firm Kimley-Horn as having worked on the project.

The project is now in the design and development phase, but Jackson has already approved the schematic design and layout of the facility. Miami-Dade expects construction documents to be final soon, with construction to begin in June and end in July 2022.

The roughly one-acre property, which Ms. Levine Cava’s memo said “was gifted” to Jackson by Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, the authorizing item’s sponsor. It is in an area zoned for limited commercial and single-family residential use.

“This…will be a miracle place in an area that we don’t have anything,” Ms. Sosa said.

“Most of the project’s funding will come from the Jackson Miracle Bond program, which includes work at all existing Jackson campuses and the creation of new facilities across Miami-Dade,” the memo said.

An additional $1 million will come from the county’s Building Better Communities general obligation bond program. Commissioners in October OK’d allocating to the project funds from the more than 16-year-old program, which includes an entry for “primary health care facilities” development.

A map depicting the five-mile radius of the property shows that the facility will serve communities in Coral Gables, Miami, Westchester, West Miami, Virginia Gardens, Miami Springs and Medley.

In the next five years, the population of those areas is expected to grow by 45,000 people, a 7.3% increase.

“The fastest-growing segment, will be residents aged 65 and older who will “demand increased medical services,” the memo said. “And the majority of patients treated [at and released from an emergency medical facility originate from ZIP Codes within a five-mile radius. Depending on the size of the ZIP Codes and the population density, a two- to five-mile area can represent between 50% and 70% of the patients treated.”

 

Source: Miami Today