Local hospitals build and revamp
Local hospitals build and revamp
Written by Christi Snow Thursday, 07 June 2007
Seton and St. David’s change to serve new population needs.
When the population changes, hospitals change too – at the cost of millions of dollars.
In June, St. David’s North Austin Medical Center dedicated more than $82 million towards building a new women’s facility, which will double the current capacity.
Dr. Sonny Rivera, the St. David’s medical director for neonatal intensive care services, said that while St. David’s has always had a commitment to women’s health, the presence of young families and a baby boom demands more healthcare support. Without it, Austin will be in a “tenuous” situation.
“We have lots of young people coming here,” he said. “We have people who grow up and stay here. We have our whole industry of electronics and I think that attracts a lot of young people.”
Don Wilkerson, CEO of the North Austin Medical Center, said once the project is completed in March 2009, the three-story building of 177,000 sq. ft. will have labor, delivery and recovery rooms and 6,000 sq. ft. of retail space that could possibly include everything from maternity clothes to a salon and an expanded neonatal intensive care unit, as just a few of its features.
A sky bridge will connect the second floor to the main building. The facility will have room to move up another five stories and add 200,000 sq. ft. Wilkerson said he hopes to eventually have not only OB/GYN physicians on site, but everything from neurosurgeons to general surgeons who specialize in women’s care.
“This project has me more excited than any other that I have ever been associated with,” he said.
Foundational attractions
Wilkerson believes his St. David’s campus was chosen as the site for the new hospital partially because of its pre-existent dedication to women’s health. It is home to the Renaissance Women’s Group and other OB/GYN doctors.
Then last year, the Austin Area Obstetrics, Gynecology and Fertility Group, which delivers more than 2,000 babies annually, approached the hospital about acquiring space.
“Their vision, our vision and the other doctors visions matched up,” he said.
The initiative led to what Jon Foster, CEO and president of St. David’s Healthcare described as “the single largest investment for women’s services ever in Central Texas,” with most of it dedicated to the North Austin center.
Different needs
In other portions of Northwest Austin, the demographic is not getting younger. It is getting older.
That has caused Seton Northwest Hospital to respond to a different need.
Seton Northwest was the newest hospital in town 16 years ago, and the only major medical facility in the Northwest area. That is not the case any more, but the hospital still plans to keep a competitive edge with a prescription of $8.5 million in renovations.
Almost a year after the multi-million dollar update began, the hospital has nearly completed the series of improvements.
“We’re a community hospital,” said Chuck Durant, vice president and chief operating officer for the hospital. “We want to be the best community hospital possible.”
Durant said Seton Northwest used to serve neighborhoods of middle-age patrons who required a broad range of services. Now, the population has aged, and at the same time, the medical field has transitioned, influencing hospitals to offer mostly intensive and chronic care.
Patient accommodation
It is these two considerations that resulted in the decision to spend $2 million of the money budgeted for renovations for the funding of an advanced MRI system that accommodates obese and claustrophobic patients and the construction of a specially-designed room that holds it.
The MRI machine is planned to help Seton Northwest move one step closer to becoming a certified stroke center.
“Northwest Austin is getting older,” Durant said. “I think the stroke center will be important for the population we service.”
If someone in northern Travis County or southern Williamson County experiences a stroke and needs care, they currently have to go to downtown Austin. That can hurt chances for full recovery or even survival, said Dr. Christopher Ewing, director of the Seton Northwest stroke center project.
Complete care
To become a certified stroke center, the hospital must have a comprehensive plan for caring for patients including radiology labs and available neurosurgeons.
The desire to become a certified stroke center is not only a result of an aging demographic, but a demonstration of a recent trend in the hospital industry, Durant said.
As the population grows, more medical centers are built and traffic congests, an increasing number of medical specialists have chosen to work within clinics, offices or small medical centers instead of hospitals.
The trend has led hospitals, such as Seton Northwest, to focus more on intensive and chronic care that could not be offered in a clinical setting.
St. David’s has seen similar trends. While the decision to increase the North Austin NICU bassinet count from 16 to 36 aligns with the emphasis in women’s care, it also allows the hospital to provide a broader range of full-service intensive care.
“Last year, North Austin [Medical Center] had 3,500 deliveries,” Rivera said. “Lets say around 160 are sick. Do we transport them? Is that safe? So we have decided that the critical mass is now here and we can provide for where it is at.”
Refocusing services
With the help of a partnership between local surgeons and the National United Surgical Partners, Seton Northwest also added two operating rooms on the second floor, mostly for in-patients. The space includes increased facilities for pre-operations, a holding and sending area and an expanded post-anesthesia care unit. Durant said they overbuilt anticipating future growth.
All the renovations diversify the hospital’s intensive and chronic care services, Durant said. Already most of their patients come through the emergency room, bringing 41,000 to 42,000 visits a year, but Durant expects that will temporarily change as new hospitals open nearby such as the Cedar Park Regional Medical Center located at FM 1431 between 183A Toll and Parmer Lane.
When the center begins operations in 2008, it will have 151 beds compared to Seton Northwest’s 110. With less than an eight to 10 minute drive difference between the hospitals due to the toll road access, some patients may choose the newer facility.
However, as Austin population continues to grow, Durant believes Seton Northwest will regain and retain its current patient intake–and the renovations can only help.
“We completely took it up a notch,” Durant said.
Yet hospital expansion and renovation depends on more than competition between medical facilities, Durant and Celeste Lesmeister, St.David’s regional director of marketing and business development, said.
“It’s more about providing needs. We have this growth, so it is not so much from competitive expansion, but more about a growth in the market.”
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