Case Study: Long-Term Value on a VAMC Healthcare Campus A Deeper Look Healthcare design projects - whether new construction or renovation are complex by nature Coordinating the multiple code requirements, infrastructure, equipment and personnel needs, while maintaining a safe and clean environment for the patients is a part of any project on a hospital campus. We believe there is no better way to provide our clients with a successful project than to become an extension of the in-house facilities team and understand the hospital’s mission and business goals from the very start of any engagement. Our process helps define the project goals and we work diligently with the end users to design for success. Array has many long standing clients where we enjoy that relationship. The challenge is how to get that relationship started from the first engagement with a new facility. This case study is a recent example of how Array successfully transitioned from consultant to trusted team member for a hospital client.
How Each Project Affects the Next... CAMPUS KNOWLEDGE
EXPERTISE
CHALLENGE
Federal healthcare facilities have an important mission and face many challenges as they strive to provide the most appropriate care to their patients. The Veterans Administration is charged with offering a range of services which rival the best private and research-based institutions, while
A Veteran Affairs Medical Center is implementing several patient focused improvements to their busy campus. An aging facility, limited capital funding and competing priorities caused their senior leadership and facilities personnel to make facility improvement choices based on the most sought-after services.
fighting the stigma associated with historical perceptions.
SOLUTION
to be more accessible and provide a greater range of ambulatory services. The VA’s Community
By being open to creative design solutions that took advantage of under-utilized spaces, the Medical Center gained more accessible and higher through-put outpatient departments to allow them to serve more veterans with a variety of specialties.
Veterans who receive their healthcare at Veterans Affairs Medical Centers can be assured of a high-level of care from clinical staff trained in the specialties veterans seek most - Behavioral Health, Emergency Care, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Primary Care and Vocational Rehabilitation. Between the country’s aging WWII and Vietnam-era service men and women, and the young troops returning from the Middle East, the VA has a diverse population to serve. Care is often sought on an outpatient basis, and the Department of Veterans Affairs is diligently preparing their aging facilities Living Center service line, where veterans can living in an assisted-living style arrangement, often on a VAMC campus, is also growing.
Click here to read an article by Array Senior Planner, Lisa Lipschutz, on the VA’s efforts to increase and enhance services available to women veterans.
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OVERVIEW At a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Central Pennsylvania, Array is part of a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business team. As part of the planning and design process, the team spends time understanding the infrastructure and business drivers at the beginning of each project, and how that project will connect to adjacent and related services. The projects outlined on the following pages illustrate the Discovery and Analysis done by the team as they collaborated with user groups and studied volume and census data to develop optimal designs. With ease of access and the patient’s comfort level as top priorities, creative options such as new entrances and larger departments were achieved.
“Our goal as designers of this facility is to ‘raise the bar’ for this hospital - for our Veteran patients and staff - to create a healthy environment that reduces stress and promotes healing. Not simply to update what is here now, but to build something far better using imagination and ingenuity. This goal will be accomplished through an ambitious construction plan in place with firms like Array Architects who use a team approach, engaging the client, patients and staff, to capture what is fundamentally important, introduce thought-provoking design concepts and enhance the healthcare spaces with creative design vision.” - Suzette Poletti, LEED GA
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case study: long-term value | PAGE 3
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Implementation
Understanding the building infrastructure and standards allowed the architectural and engineering drawings to be completed in a fast track manner, shaving months from the production schedule. By accomplishing this, the VA maintained scheduled funding sources within the required fiscal calendar.
WOUND CARE CLINIC AND ULTRASOUND The intent of the project was to provide renovations to a patient-centric second floor. Wound care, recreation therapy and ultrasound are the project’s key service lines.
sized department during the construction project. The waiting room is now subdivided between infectious and non-infectious patients. This unique solution offers fewer chances for veterans to acquire infections and relieves veterans’ stress during visits.
SPECIALTY EXAM CLINIC SERVICES The project’s goal was to increase specialty clinic exam space. When completed, 32 specialty exam spaces will be provided. With exam spaces and essential activities standardized by the new
During this project, finishes were developed to serve as a basis for
design, as well as establishing a universal design configuration,
campus standards and gain an intimate knowledge of the facility’s
gives the VA flexibility to change the room use to any specialty.
aging infrastructure. Working with the facilities staff, a phasing
This solution provides the VA more flexibility addressing the ups
plan was created to keep adjacent spaces operational during con-
and downs in veteran case loads for specialties without over-sizing
struction so no services were curtailed. By interconnected patient
the Unit.
rooms - allowing staff to travel between the exam rooms - patient privacy was improved by limiting main corridor-to-room access.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
COMMUNITY LIVING CENTER The design team held a multi-day master planning charrette which included senior, clinical and facility staff to assess project goals
The goal of this project was to provide state-of-the-art, high
and realize project opportunities. A benefit of having management
quality treatment services for walk-ins and ambulance arrivals
and clinical teams together at the beginning of the programming
while increasing overall department size to meet current demands.
process is that each hears the others ideas and concerns. One
Multiple test fits were performed to determine the best expansion
important issue that was identified and resolved revolved around
location and optimal phasing.
offering Rehab Services within the CLC. Once discussed, it was
The department’s expansion plans were phased so bed counts and staffing levels are maintained during construction and will increase after the first construction phase. This will help the VA reduce their veteran waiting times in the first phase, in an under-
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determined that providing staff both in the hospital-based Rehab Department and within the CLC would unnecessarily duplicate staffing. A secondary result of the discussion and resultant decision was a right-sizing of the CLC from 105 beds to 94.
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Who We Are ARRAY-ARCHITECTS.COM
We Are Healthcare Architects We are a team of architects and designers with unique backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common - we share a strong desire to use our expertise and knowledge to design solutions that will help people in moments that matter most.
Once the optimal site for the CLC was determined, discussions on how the CLC could be linked to the main hospital via an enclosed walkway commenced so physical connectivity and continuation of services between buildings would not be hampered. The enclosed walkway option appealed to the VA as a way to encourage CLC residents to utilize the VA’s available on-campus health services as
This focus makes us leaders in our field. There’s a degree of compassion, empathy, and sensitivity that goes into every project that we touch. It’s designing a nurse station with sight lines to every patient. It’s building a Behavioral Health facility without corners, so that patients are safe. It’s translating the operational needs through the technical details to fine tune the lighting system in a neonatal unit so caregivers can match the lighting to each baby’s stage of development. It is a deeper understanding, honed through relationships spanning decades. Together, we discover optimal solutions with our clients. It is our four decades of specialization that allows for effective communication, collaboration and precision in the complex, changing world of healthcare.
an extension of the CLC community and helped the VA sole source kitchen, housekeeping, pharmacy and other services directly from the main hospital.
ONCOLOGY SERVICES The intent of this project is to provide a larger infusion space and waiting area as well as increase exam rooms, offices and support space. The oncology program includes 12 infusion bays, three exam rooms for general oncology patients, one bone marrow exam room, nurse station, medication room, clinical workrooms and a family zone. The Waiting/Reception area will be enlarged and shared by the adjacent GI and Short Procedure Units.
WOMEN’S SERVICES This renovation project provides a dedicated entrance and expanded women’s services. Among important project requirements were flexibility and privacy. Two key design changes to the current building were proposed and accepted; shifting the central hospital corridor to provide a contiguous Women’s Clinic and moving the Clinic’s entry to separate it from the main hospital entrance. Combined, these design changes helped the VA 1) provide a greater level of privacy for female veterans; 2) group like services together; and, 3) improve wayfinding from the hospital entrance.
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Array’s Knowledge Communities We believe strongly in sharing our expertise and knowledge with others. We invite you to explore each of our thought leaders and share your thoughts with the healthcare design community. Click here to visit our blog.
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to view a sampling of our Veterans Affairs projects
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