New St. Joseph’s offers ‘state-of-art’ experience

    When the “old” St. Joseph’s Hospital (Highland) opened in 1950, it was considered a modern health-care facility for its time.
    Similarly, the new St. Joseph’s Hospital health-care campus, which encompasses the hospital and adjacent medical office building (MOB) totaling 125,000 square feet, provides Highland and the surrounding communities with a “state-of-the-art” health-care experience.
    “We have invested nearly $63 million dollars to create a healing environment that provides a high-quality, Franciscan patient experience,” says Peggy Sebastian, president and CEO, SJH. “The new state-of-the-art St. Joseph’s Hospital combines technology with an efficient floor plan design to maximize patient care and resource utilization.”
    One of the most significant features of the new SJH is the number of adjacencies shared among departments. The Emergency Department (ED), Surgery Services, and Medical Imaging are all located next to each other and enhance the promptness of care, she said.
    Another example is the Inpatient Department’s proximity to the pharmacy, the chapel and the Wi-Fi cafe.
    “The proximity of these neighboring departments allows for improved efficiency in clinical consultation and supports the needs of patient’s families and visitors. It also improves our colleague productivity, and most important of all, increases patient satisfaction,” Sebastian said.
    The new SJH floor plan follows principles related to the concept of “lean design.” Lean design focuses on reducing “waste,” maximizing value, and reducing the time to achieve the final solution. In the “old” SJH facility previously located on Main Street in Highland, many of the previously-mentioned departments were located at a significant distance from one another. The new SJH adjacencies reduce the distance and travel time between departments and increase staff productivity — all to the benefit of patients.
    The new SJH focuses on patient privacy and all patient rooms are now private. “An extension of our patient privacy strategy is the new SJH private registration areas and laboratory drawing stations directly off of the main lobby,” Sebastian says.
    In addition to its “state-of-the-art” design, most of the clinical equipment in patient care areas feature the latest technology to aid in diagnosis and treatment. The Medical Imaging Department features a new MRI machine that’s faster, quieter and more precise, a new 64-slice CT scanner that can produce full-body scan results in seconds, and a new PET-CT scanner to enhance the hospital’s existing cancer care program in diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients.
    Additional new technologies include but are not limited to:
    Patient Safety Lift technology to enhance staff and patient safety
    Information technology integrated into the medical records, patient education and hospitality systems
    A surgery patient tracking board that keeps families up to date on the progress of their loved ones through the surgery experience
    Operating suites in the Surgery Services Department, that are 25 percent larger, have the newest high-tech medical equipment including high-definition video cameras for arthroscopic and laparoscopic procedures
    The SJH Wound Care Center features two new hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers
    
The new SJH campus also has the following new features:
    An on-site helipad located just outside the ED
    A Wi-Fi café (with wireless Internet access) that is open through dinner Monday through Friday and new extended hours for breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday
    The café is located next to the hospital’s main entrance waiting area and offers comfort, convenience and pleasant views of the surrounding nature
    And while the new generation of health care in Highland began when the new SJH opened its doors in August, the new health-care campus is designed with the future in mind. A multi-year, master campus plan for expansion is in place and provides the opportunity for additional growth.
    “The master plan allows for the expansion of what we believe will be our most aggressive area of growth, the diagnostic and treatment centers,” says Sebastian. “The potential need for a second medical office building, as well as the need for additional patient beds is all part of the site expansion plan. The 60-plus acres allows for development of the health-care campus of the future that may include a cancer treatment center, dialysis center or other complementary services.”
    For more information on the new SJH, visit www.stjosephshighland.org.