By Marina Gaytan
Hanford - This fall, people
from the Hanford community and Kings County will have access to all of
Hanford's emergency and critical care services at one location.
New Adventist Medical Center of Hanford will have expanded capacity to
service the 140,000 people in Kings County. The emergency departments
from both Central Valley General Hospital (CVGH) and Hanford Community
Medical Center (HCMC) will move into the new hospital, creating one centralized
location for emergency care.
Work on the hospital that began two years ago is nearing completion.
“This medical center will be unlike any other in the region,” said Richard L. Rawson, president and CEO of Adventist Health-Central Valley Network. It will also provide advanced technology and equipment and a friendly, knowledgeable staff he said.
The $114 million dollar project that encompasses about 202,000 square feet will have many departments from both hospitals including, Medical, Surgical, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency. Administration and the Medical Staff Offices will also follow.
Since the new hospital will not have women's health and maternity, it will stay at CVGH, which will also service the community as a general care clinic.
HCMC is still exploring the use of the medical center, said Christine Pickering, director of marketing and communications for Adventist Health-Central Valley Network.
“It's such an important community resource, we want to use it to the best of the community needs,” Pickering said about the building that will not be providing medical services when Adventist Health opens. The hospitals lie within 2 miles of each other. CVGH is the farthest northeast, followed by HCMC and then Adventist Medical Center, which is the farthest southwest, Pickering added.
To help alleviate the hospital's outpatient traffic, a three story, 63,000 square-foot Medical Pavilion will conveniently be located adjacent to the hospital by a 40-foot walkway. The pavilion will house many of the outpatient services.
Currently, patients waiting to be admitted at Hanford's two hospitals; CVGH and HCMC, must wait as the admitting staff also admits patients coming to the hospital for outpatient work such as X-rays or lab draws.
“The new hospital provides a
more inpatient focused environment,” Pickering said.
The new hospital is designed so that all patients, unless they are direct
admits by doctors, will be pre-admitted.
The hospital has also been designed to provide easier access for family members to get to patient's rooms. A decrease in traffic near patient care areas is expected since the room design is offset approximately 8-feet from the hallway which will further reduce sound in the rooms.
Adventist Health in the Central Valley Network is a not-for-profit, faith-based health care system that operates in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.
“Health care at its core is a doctor caring for a patient. Our main goal for Adventist Medical Center to provide the kind of place that a doctor and a family trust to provide the best care. Adventist Medical Center will further our mission of sharing God's love and our vision to be the best place to receive care, practice medicine and work,” Rawson said.
Extra Care
Many features have been added to the new hospital for extra care. All of the rooms will be private, which will allow a more secure atmosphere for the exchange of information and a more restful setting for patients. Each floor will have a quiet room for family consultation. This should also improve infection control and prevention, said officials.
Each room will have bedside computer workstations available to nursing staff and physicians. In addition, four more workstations are available in alcoves on each unit. Each unit's nursing station will have computers as well.
Electronic medical records will be used instead of the normal paper charts. All of the patients' information including readings from the suction, oxygen and infusion pumps will be recorded electronically. All rooms will also have wireless Internet access and flat-screen televisions.
All of the Nursing units will be separated by service. Instead of a medical and surgical unit in one, the hospital will house medical patients on one floor and surgical patients on another. Each floor will have two 30-bed units and its own 11-bed ICU for a total of 142 beds. Currently, HCMC has the only ICU, which has 10 beds.
The hospital will also have space for 60 additional medical-surgical beds as the needs expand within the community.
The new Emergency Department (ED) has 26 treatment stations - two more than what the two Hanford hospitals have now. Along with decontamination and isolation rooms, it will have four beds for trauma care.
The flow of patients through the ED should improve due to the increase in ICU beds, which will cut down on patients being held in the ED while they wait for ICU or other hospital beds to become available. Each ED room will be private with walls and doors instead of curtains.
The hospital will have six operating rooms, one more than the five at the current Hanford hospitals, with each room being nearly 600 square feet. Two operating rooms will be equipped with monitors so that surgeons can view radiology images while they perform surgery.
Equipment in the hospital's radiology department will include digital X-rays, a CT scanner and an ultrasound room. Fluoroscopy services will also be available.
A viewing and consultation room for doctors will have digital imaging systems.
Doctors and other health care professionals will be able to view images throughout the hospital on designated computers and view them remotely through a secure Internet connection.
New LED surgical lights will be used instead of halogen light bulbs. These generate less heat and the LED's will adjust to provide uniform lighting. Special green lights will also assist with infection control.
Accessible from Mall Drive, parking for patients and families will be in front of the hospital. Employees and physicians will park and enter from the back, where they have access to dedicated elevators. A helipad is also available for long distance care.
Elevators will deliver patients, family
members, physicians and other visitors directly to the center of nursing
units. A set of two elevators will be dedicated for patient moves between
floors, with a third set for doctor access and other hospital business.
A new cafeteria, with seating for 140, features a grill area for cooked-to-order
meals and a large salad bar. There will also be a patio for outside dining.
Located right of Highway 198, on Mall Drive and 7th Street, New Adventist Health Medical Center-Hanford provides easy access from eastern or western Kings County. Ambulance crews have already established routes to bypass the train tracks when necessary after its opening.
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