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V O L . X X V I I N O. X V I I N N OVAT I O N / R & D Both Giselaine Coulombe and Leslie Malone speak highly of the care they have received at MMC. Room for change e expansion plan recently went through some amendments, partially influenced by the pandemic, like increas- ing the original plan for 64 private rooms in the Malone Family Tower to 96, which increased the hospital's total bed capacity license from 637 to 700. Sanders said the addition of the sterile processing department, which will nearly double the size of the old one, wasn't necessarily influenced by the pandemic. But it made sense to build now since it was in need of an upgrade. It will be directly above the tower's new procedure rooms, which will save time and space, helping again with that flow of medical care. ese changes added $52 million to the original cost. Earlier this year, Maine Med met its $150 million capital campaign goal with a $2 million gift from Eric and Peggy Cianchette of Portland. It extended the campaign, currently funded by approxi- mately a thousand benefactors, to $170 million to keep up with the demands of the pandemic. In recognition of the $2 million gift, Maine Med announced plans for the Eric & Peggy Cianchette Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, featur- ing state-of-the-art equipment to serve the region's sickest cardiac patients. Maine Med's contractor, New York- based Turner Construction, who has worked with the hospital for a number of years and is the largest domestic con- tractor in the United States, is keeping pace with the changes. Sanders says everything to date has been finished on time and on budget or better. "Given what we've been through in the past two and a half years, this project couldn't have gone better," says Sanders. He credits this to good planning, a good team and good partners. Designed with patients and staff in mind Architect Keilman is one of those good partners. As associate principal at the Boston office of Chicago-based Perkins&Will, he's seen the project through since its beginning and has a spe- cial interest in health care architecture. Keilman says more than aesthet- ics, which can be subjective, health care design is focused on the patient's jour- ney, making it easier on them from the moment they park their car. e staff experience is equally important to Keilman, who says this has been a huge trend in the industry that has become even more crucial over the last few years with high burn out rates in the medical professions. One of the ways Keilman focuses on both patient and staff is to separate the public experience from the hospital's operations by creating separate pathways. Even though patients know they're in a hospital, people don't want to see bags of waste and stretchers going by them while walking down the halls, says Keilman, who first became interested in healthcare design in high school when he interned simultaneously at both a rehab hospital and architecture firm. is "on-stage versus off-stage" barrier will also be achieved through separate public and patient elevators and a separate staff entrance. Freeing up the public corridor gives patients more space to move in the halls with built-in seating for rests, consistent with emerging research showing the healing benefits of getting inpatients up and moving even after serious procedures. Incorporating more nature and natural elements in hospital design is another industry trend the Malone Tower will take advantage of to improve both patient care and staff work envi- ronment. e tower utilizes an outdoor plaza along Congress Street as well as a roof garden. Corridors lined with birch tree graphics will lead to community lounge spaces with views of Portland Harbor, the White Mountains or the Fore River, with the idea of mimick- ing a soothing walk in the woods for patients and families. "ese outdoor spaces provide access to nature, both physically and visually," says Keilman. "e ability to experi- ence nature supports patients as well as caregivers who are in stressful environ- ments." And there's research to back that up too, showing patients with window views of trees had shorter hospital stays and used less pain medication. A new entrance e Malone Family Tower's location was also an intentional choice. When it became apparent that the old Congress Street parking garage had lived its life, the team began to ponder other pos- sibilities for that space. "Very quickly it became appar- ent that the benefit [of the current location] is you now have hospital care at the gateway to the penin- sula in Portland," says Keilman. For years, when people entered the city through the Congress Street exit off Interstate-295 they'd see a parking garage, "but there's a world-class insti- tution here and an amazing city behind it, so we started to say 'hey, a building here could be important.'" Just as the old Maine General Hospital offered the best care in its day and made its mark on a growing Portland nearly two centuries ago, the new Maine Medical Center should continue to define the shape of the city and the care of Maine citizens long into the future. Catie Joyce-Bulay, a freelance writer, can be reached at editorial @ mainebiz.biz » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E R E N D E R I N G / C O U R T E S Y O F M A I N E M E D I C A L C E N T E R 70 Fact Book / Doing Business in Maine Jeff Keilman, principal architect, says while improving the patient experience is an overall goal, design elements also take into account the hospital staff's experience. These outdoor spaces provide access to nature, both physically and visually. The ability to experience nature supports patients as well as caregivers who are in stressful environments. — Jeff Keilman Principal architect

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