Third tier of hospital renovations begin
A third phase of hospital renovations begins this week as architects arrive to plan the Orthopedic Center of Excellence announced by Chief Executive Officer Shawn Morrow in December.
The drawings will help drive cost estimates and a plan to fund the estimated $7 million project at Bartlett Regional Hospital.
The new orthopedic center comes on the heels of $62 million in improvements that started in 2004. A voter-approved sales tax, a $25 million loan, hospital revenue and $3.5 million in grants paid for that work.
A funding source still needs to be identified for the orthopedic center, Chief Financial Officer Garth Hamblin said Friday, adding that in the next two months, estimators would refine the cost while management addressed the payment question. The center is slated to open in December 2009.
The board of directors already approved the new phase of work at the hospital located near Twin Lakes.
The hospital is working with a recently formed group of doctors at Juneau Bone and Joint Center to offer improved health care for patients needing hip and knee replacements or other similar services.
The plan includes a surgical suite dedicated to orthopedic operations, a separate drive-up entrance to access physical therapy, a larger outpatient check-in, and eight remodeled in-patient rooms dedicated to orthopedics on a separate wing.
The renovations were "a little bit past due," but the new plan combines with completed and ongoing work to provide a nearly new hospital in Juneau, Morrow said.
Morrow brings the idea of a "joint camp" to the center, which schedules same-day surgeries for a group of patients who then do physical therapy together in the days afterwards. Staff is trained to help get patients moving around and out of the hospital faster with the program.
Morrow saw patient stays decrease after surgeries from four days to less than three in Chattanooga, Tenn., where a "joint camp" was implemented in the Memorial Health Care System.
"Patient outcomes were much better, costs went down and patient satisfaction scores drastically improved on this unit," he said.
A four-person team from Bartlett Regional Hospital traveled to Tacoma, Wash., this month to visit three "joint camps" and get familiar with the treatment. Existing staff will be trained to meet the needs of the orthopedic unit, Morrow said.
The hospital finished its first phase of remodels in 2007 and opened a new Critical Care Unit, mental health floor, emergency room, testing lab, heli-port, cafeteria and birthing unit.
Nearly 55,000 square feet was added to the original 110,000-square-foot hospital built in 1971.
A larger lobby and gift shop, new sleep lab, chemotherapy unit, education center, expanded physical therapy, medical surgery wing and about two dozen private patient rooms are under construction and slated to be finished this summer. The finish date had been set in April of this year but a late cabinetry delivery pushed the date forward.
A one-cent sales tax that also funded Treadwell Arena and school renovations paid $20 million for completed and ongoing hospital projects, and hospital revenues from patient fees funded $13.5 million so far for improvements.
• Contact Kim Marquis at 523-2279 or kim.marquis@juneauempire.com.