The Region's Only Critical Care Hospital

By Anuj Singh

Virginia Commonwealth University’s $192 million Critical Care Hospital launches a new era in treating critically ill and injured patients.

The 15-level hospital, located on East Marshall Street, is the region’s only critical care hospital.

“The 367,000 square-foot facility increases critical care capacity at the medical center with intensive care units for surgical trauma, neonatal, burn center, cardiac, neuroscience, medical respiratory and oncology patients,” said Brian Ohlinger, vice president of facilities management at VCU, in an e-mail.

Ohlinger said patient and health care provider safety were the main goals in the design and construction of the new hospital.

“The entire building is digitally wired to accommodate the intense communications of critical care units, and environmentally constructed so help is just a step away,” said Pamela Lepley, director of communications at VCU.

Lepley said the new hospital has 32 adult patient beds, increasing the medical center’s ratio of private to semi-private beds from 37 percent to 70 percent.

The construction of the new hospital was a difficult under taking.

The W.M. Jordon Co. of Newport News was in charge of construction for the largest construction project in the history of the VCU Medical Center.

Sue Lewis handled the publicity for the construction of the new hospital for W.M. Jordan.

“The construction site was beside an extremely busy urban emergency room, which meant there could be no disruption in the day to day activities of staff or patients, and the new tower connects to existing buildings on three sides,” Lewis said.

Lewis said worker safety and non-disruption of the hospital’s day to day operations was a huge challenge.

“Thirteeth Street was partially closed off to accommodate construction, but there needed to be room for deliveries too pass through to the Clinical Support Center loading dock,” Lewis said.

Lewis said a temporary bridge had to be erected between the visitors parking deck and East Clay Street, and construction materials were brought in daily on a “just in time” basis. Materials were delivered only when they were needed to reduce clutter.

Comfort of patients was one of the main concerns of the Critical Care hospital, keeping family members close to their ill or hospitalized relatives was a key element in the hospital’s design

A typical room will average 250-square-feet and include a comfortable sitting area for the patient’s family.

Along with comfort, providing better services for critically injured people was the number one reason for building the new facility.

“The new hospital enables the medical center to better respond to the critical care needs of the region,” Lepley said

Media

http://www.new.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=535408056113

http://www.new.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=535409677863

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=527994897398

http://www.vcucriticalcare.com/?id=530&sid=3

Related Stories

http://flickr.com/photos/andrewbain/2073713693/

http://www.wtvr.com/Global/story.asp?S=9146127

http://www.venturerichmond.com/downtown/projects-vcu.html

Symbol for MCV

by Anuj Singh

The Medical College of Virginia’s Egyptian building is a historical symbol for Virginia Commonwealth University and the Medical College of Virginia.

The Egyptian building, located on E. Marshall Street, was built in 1844 by Philadelphia architect Thomas W. Stewart for the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College (now MCV).

Jodi Koste is a librarian and local historian at MCV’s Tompkins-McCaw Library; she thinks the building has a lot of historical value.

“The fact that we have provided medical instruction in the (Egyptian) building since the fall of 1844 is remarkable…the Egyptian building is a wonderful architectural and historical asset for the university,” Koste said.

The building, formerly known as the Old College building is renowned for its unique Egyptian revival design.

“The building’s unusual architectural style gives us (MCV) a building that is distinctive…I think it gives students a sense of history and understanding of how far this institution has come,” Koste said.

Brian Nguyen is a student at VCU’s School of Medicine and vice president of student life for the Student Government Association at MCV.

“None of the other buildings at MCV have the history and charm of the Egyptian building, it has become the symbol of MCV by default,” Nguyen said.

“The architecture of the building is magnificent, and the hieroglyphics on the walls are a nice touch,” Nguyen said.

Like Koste, Nguyen thinks the Egyptian building has historical significance.

“The (Egyptian) building serves as an icon for a medical school rich in history…once inside you really realize how old the building is,” Nguyen said.

In 1969 the National Register of Historic Places recognized it as the oldest building south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The five story building serves MCV in many different ways.

It houses the 270-seat Baruch Auditorium, named after former graduate Dr. Simon Baruch.

There are small classrooms on the second floor that are used by all of MCV’s schools.

The building also houses the Office of Continuing Medical Education and the Dept. of Physical Medicine and Physical Rehabilitation.

“There are some older medical education buildings in the country, but the Egyptian building is certainly significant for VCU,” Koste said.

Koste said the Egyptian building has long been a symbol for VCU and MCV.

“Dr. William T. Sanger (President of MCV, 1925-1956) added buildings image to the official college seal…the buildings image was also used on early college publications,” Koste said.

In its 163 years of existence it has been used by every school of MCV at one time or another.