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BJC HealthCare Project
New Hospital Plans For Future Growth
by Brian R. Hook
BJC HealthCare, the largest health-care provider in St. Louis
with annual revenue of $2.6 billion, wants to keep pace with
the region's ever-growing suburbs.
The nonprofit health-care provider, with 13 hospitals and
multiple community health locations around St. Louis, plans
to open the region's first newly built general hospital in
more than 20 years. The $75 million BJC Progress West HealthCare
Center is taking shape on a 48-acre site in O'Fallon, Mo.,
in St. Charles County.
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"Like a lot of major cities, there has been some tremendous
growth in some of the suburbs, and the suburb in the St. Louis
area that has led in growth is the St. Charles County market,"
said John Antes, president of Progress West. St. Charles County
is one of the fastest-growing counties in Missouri and the
country.
Half the population of St. Charles County leaves the county
and goes to St. Louis County for health-care services.
"For many of these folks it is a 30-minute drive to get
to the nearest hospital," Antes said.
BJC estimates that at the current rate of growth, St. Charles
County will need more than 25 additional hospital beds per
year to meet the county's burgeoning health-care needs. "We
are in a market area that has very rapid growth," Antes
said.
O'Fallon-based Paric Corp. and Southfield, Mich.-based Barton
Malow Co. are in a joint venture to build Progress West. Construction
started in March 2005.
Carl Eisenhauer, senior project manager for Paric, said construction
is on schedule with substantial completion expected by Dec.
12.
The hospital will encompass 180,000 sq. ft. The five-level
facility will include an emergency department with 12 treatment
rooms, six-bed intensive care unit and private inpatient rooms.
It will also have an endoscopy suite, a labor and delivery
area, four surgical suites, 14 recovery rooms, laboratories,
pharmacy, diagnostic and treatment units, imaging, dietary
services and space for support services.
BJC HealthCare received approval March 2004 from the state
to build Progress West.
It is expected to have an economic impact of $616 million
in St. Charles County, according to a study by Development
Strategies, a St. Louis-based consulting firm.
"We anticipate the possibility of expanding the facility
in the future," Antes said. "Even though we are
building 72 beds, it was conceived as a hospital twice that
size, and there are some clear paths for expansion that have
been incorporated into the design."
Designed for Expansion
Unlike with older hospitals where additions on various locations
often interrupt operational flows during construction, Progress
West is designed to allow for future expansion phases.
The facility under construction is taking up less than half
of the 72-acre site. And, an energy center is being built across
the street from the main facility in a freestanding building.
A tunnel connects back to the main facility underground.
"By separating the energy facility from the building
it allows us, in a much easier fashion, to expand the building
without encumbering current operations," Antes added.
Progress West also is designed to feel more like a boutique
hotel, rather than a research-driven hospital, said Paul Naecker,
senior project architect with St. Louis-based Hellmuth, Obata
+ Kassabaum Inc., the architect.
"The whole design process was all about a creation of a
wellness place, as opposed to a health-care behemoth,"
Naecker added.
The architecture centers on evidence-based design, which focuses
on research and how patients respond in certain environments,
Naecker said.
The design includes a concierge desk at the entrance to rooms
resembling hotel spaces, and all the patient rooms are identical,
Naecker said. He added that this helps smooth operations and
cut down on mistakes.
"You go in and everything is in the same place," he
said. "Nobody can go into a space and not know exactly
where the equipment is supposed to be."
The patient's rooms are also canted. Naecker said this shifts
the rooms and creates two spaces.
Each room has a zone for families, which includes a pull-out
sleeper sofa. The rooms also have a work zone for medical staff,
which includes a computer and an area to store supplies. This
allows for distribution of medicine in each room. It is also
allows nurses to spend more time with each patient.
There is wireless technology built in throughout the hospital
for both patients and staff.
Patients are able to call up and order things from the cafeteria.
They can also call up informational videos about treatment.
On the clinical side, doctors can walk around the hospital with
handheld components and access medical records and other data.
These features are easier to place in a new green-field project
like Progress West than adding on to existing hospitals, Naecker
said. As soon as medial facilities are completed, renovations
or expansions are often started because health care is constantly
changing.
"One of the big design planning goals in this facility
is to allow expansion and changes that aren't going to disrupt
or interrupt the existing facility," he added.
Foundations in Bedrock
The foundation for Progress West is drilled piers, socketed
into bedrock. Then structural steel stands on top with lightweight
concrete that brings the structure together. The building is
clad in stone, metal panels and curtain wall.
It is designed to include a high-efficient exterior skin. Part
of the building has sheathing on it and waterproofing. It also
includes an ice guard membrane that goes on the face of the
building.
"It keeps water from penetrating into the skin of the
building," Paric's Eisenhauer said. It also gives you
a very tight and efficient building."
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