Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/802683
HEALTHY INVESTMENT CT hospitals investing big in new 'patient-centered' facilities \\ By Natalie Missakian B efore building Stamford Hospital's new $450 million complex, top hospital execu- tives sought the advice of former patients. They wanted to know what would give patients a better hospital experience. Most of the answers, not surprisingly, had to do with comfort and privacy — patients wanted private rooms and their own bathrooms; places for visiting friends and family members to gather; and surroundings that felt as close to home as possible. Kathleen Silard, executive vice president and COO for Stamford Health, said that feedback was a guiding force during construction of the new 640,000-square-foot building, which opened last September aer more than a decade of planning. Besides all new operating rooms, a new emergency department and a new consolidated Heart & Vascular Institute, the building includes five floors of all private patient rooms — 180 total — each with its own bathroom and a pull-out sofa for visitors. ere's a resource library where patients can research a diagnosis, said Silard, and spaces where loved ones can gather or retreat for peace and quiet. She said the entire facility was built to help deliver the promise of "patient-centered" care. "No one wants to be hospitalized, so if you have to be here we want to make it a very warm and caring environment," she explained. "We paid a lot of attention to art, to colors — to really making it as comfortable as possible for the patient." Depending on how you measure it, Stamford Hospital's new facility represents one of the largest hospital construction projects in Connecticut's history by cost, behind a new $500 million hospital tower and outpatient pavilion UConn Health debuted over the past two years. In addition, Yale New Haven Health's Smilow Cancer Hospital, which was completed in 2009, cost approximately $470 million. Earlier this year, Hartford Hospital opened a $150-million orthopedic specialty hospital called the Bone & Joint Institute. e 130,000-square-foot facility includes 48 inpatient rooms, eight operating rooms and rehab and wellness areas for outpatients. A 75,000-square-foot outpatient surgery and medical center is connected by a skywalk. Stephen Frayne, senior vice president for health policy with the Connecticut Hospital Association, said the hospital investments are being driven by aging facilities, higher patient demand and a transformation both in technology and the way that care is delivered. "It's not an expansion per se, it's really the hospitals continually looking at the communities A look down a corridor of Stamford Hospital's new $450 million facility, which provides a peaceful setting for patients' families to sit and rest. 18 GREATER HARTFORD HEALTH • Spring 2017