New Patient Care Tower at Mission Hospital, most Technologically Advanced Hospital in the Country

On November 15, Mission Hospital opened the doors to its new 94,000 square-foot Patient Care Tower to the community. Built next to the existing Mission Hospital five-story tower and pavilion, the new patient tower features a patient-centered design along with next-generation advancements in healthcare technology making Mission Hospital the most technologically advanced hospital in the country. The opening of the new tower also makes Mission Hospital the largest hospital in Orange County at 552 beds.

The latest in advanced imaging and diagnostic services and patient-and family-centered care are housed within the four-level tower including: 44 private rooms, advanced diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, the Zimmer Neuroscience Wing specializing in critical care, the Progressive Care & Stroke Unit, the Swenson Family Linear Accelerator Suite and the Schumacher Healing Garden.  The expansion also includes a beautifully designed new chapel open 24 hours, seven days a week to patients and visitors of all faiths. The chapel was made possible through a $1 million commitment from the Auxiliary of Mission Hospital.

"With the next generation in medical technology and increased capacity in critical care, our new tower enhances our ability to continue providing the highest quality healthcare services to our dear neighbors," said Peter F. Bastone, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mission Hospital. "We built this tower to address all aspects of patient care, from meeting critical medical needs, to healing for the mind and spirit, to comforts for family and loved ones."

The first floor of the tower boasts an unparalleled variety of next generation diagnostic imaging which allows physicians to view images with rapid speed and unprecedented digital clarity.

• The Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT) equipment uses nuclear medicine (radioactive tracers that allow viewing of metabolic movement in the body) to produce 3-D images that show how organs are functioning. This can be used for diagnosis for a variety of heart, brain or cancer diseases.
  
• Thanks to a generous donation by the Swenson family, the first floor also houses a state-of-the-art linear accelerator, which pinpoints high-energy x-rays directly to a patient's tumor to destroy cancer cells more effectively, while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. With its high efficiency, the linear accelerator's treatment sessions are typically 15-30 short minutes.  Available for patient care in January 2010.

Additionally, the first floor hosts a handful of other advanced technologies including:

• The Dual Source Computed Tomography (CT) system which produces scans with twice the resolution in half the time.
• The 3T Verio MRI is a high-field MRI that produces the highest quality images on the market and performs scans without the need for a long, dark and closed tunnel found with most MRI machines, and uses radio waves to produce 3-D images without radiation.
• Positron emission tomography with computed tomography (PET/CT) provides a more comprehensive review of the body in less time and an accurate depiction of cancer progression which enables earlier diagnosis and treatment.

The Zimmer Family Neuroscience Wing on the third floor houses a 20-bed Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU). This wing, named after the patriarch of the Williams' family who made the Adam Williams Initiative, a nationwide teaching program focused on Mission's Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) protocols, and this patient wing possible, provides for patients who require a higher level of care following complex surgery, traumatic brain injury or stroke. Mission Hospital's internationally recognized TBI program is implemented by a team of specialized physicians, nurses, technologists and respiratory therapists who use evidence-based protocols to dramatically increase the odds of quality of life in recovery.

The tower's fourth floor houses the Progressive Care and Stroke Unit (PCSU), a 24-bed "transitional" unit that provides care above the medical-surgical level but below the critical care level. It also includes specialized rooms for patients with respiratory illnesses or other conditions that require isolation. These rooms have negative air flow systems that restrict the air from the rest of the hospital. Mission Hospital has received national Primary Stroke Center accreditation and regional designation as a Stroke Receiving Center.

The new Patient Care Tower's award-winning architecture was created to promote healing for patients, a comfortable atmosphere for families and an enhanced state-of-the-art working environment for hospital staff.  Extensive glazing provides an abundance of natural light to promote circadian rhythms that aid in the body's natural healing process. Some of the tower's patient- and family-friendly highlights include an expanded family area, dedicated sleep chairs for overnight guests and wireless connectivity.

Honoring the legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, a 45-seat chapel provides a sacred space open to all individuals seeking comfort or reflection. Blessed by His Eminence, Bishop Tod D. Brown at the Tower's grand opening celebration on November 5, the chapel will host a Catholic mass five days a week. Connected through the chapel interior, the Schumacher Healing Garden includes sitting areas and lush landscape to evoke serene space for relaxation, prayer and meditation. The chapel and healing garden are located between the existing tower and the new tower to invite easy access for the entire community and to emphasize the spiritual and holistic healing mission of the hospital.

McCarthy Building Companies served as general contractor for the new tower as well as an underground tunnel and a 175-foot-long pedestrian bridge that connects the new facility with the main hospital building on the third floor. The seismically sound tower exterior is composed of metal panel cladding and an exposed steel braced-frame conveying a sense of the highly technological, state-of-the-art activities contained within.

"Constructing a high-tech hospital with complex systems requires advanced design and construction skills," said McCarthy Project Manager Todd Foos. "A critical component used to deliver this complex healthcare facility on-time and within budget was Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology in which created virtual 3-D mock-ups. The use of 3D modeling proved highly successful in helping us visualize and resolve system's clashes before construction began." 

The use of BIM on the Mission Hospital Patient Care Tower was so successful that St. Joseph Health System was awarded the Gold Constructech Vision Award for the project's use of a high level of BIM detail modeling for the exterior skin of the building. The award is based on the use of technology to promote innovation within the construction industry. 

Vico Software and Tekla Corporation worked with the facilities and design and construction team to implement BIM modeling for the building's exterior. The tower was designed by RBB Architects Inc. of Los Angeles.

About Mission Hospital

Mission Hospital provides south Orange County communities with access to advanced care and advanced caring through two convenient locations. Mission Hospital has been serving the greater needs of the community for nearly 40 years, improving the quality of life in the communities we serve.  Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, the region's only designated trauma center, offers 24-hour emergency care and specialized services for imaging, heart, stroke, maternity, and women's wellness needs.  Its second campus, Mission Hospital Laguna Beach, offers 24-hour emergency, intensive and medical-surgical care as well as the South County's only behavioral health services and hospital-based chemical dependency and chronic pain medicine abuse center. A member of the St. Joseph Health System, Mission Hospital is one of 14 not-for-profit hospitals sponsored by the St. Joseph Health Ministry. For more information, visit mission4health.com.

About McCarthy

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the nation's 10th largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2008) and has been ranked among the top five national healthcare builders by Modern Healthcare since the magazine began its annual ranking more than 30 years ago.  In Southern California, the firm has completed over $2.4 billion in healthcare work for the region's most elite healthcare institutions.  In addition to Newport Beach, McCarthy has offices in San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; St. Louis and Atlanta.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com .

Patient Care Tower Opening (pdf)
 

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