Last month, we celebrated the grand opening of the hospital pavilion, which marked the completion of a $423 million expansion project, consisting of a new Medical and Research Translation (MART) building and Hospital Pavilion, the home of the new Stony Brook Children’s Hospital.
The 10-story Hospital Pavilion contains 150 inpatient beds. One of the major benefits for our patients will be all-private rooms that are more spacious than our current patient rooms.
All adult inpatient units include state-of-the-art technology to care for patients who need intensive and intermediate care following cardiothoracic surgery, trauma injuries or surgery, general surgery and neurosurgery. Included are a new 10-bed cardiothoracic intensive care unit (ICU), a Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) and Trauma Intensive Care Unit (TICU), which have expanded from 14 to 21 beds, and an expanded 20-bed Neurological Critical Care Unit (NCCU). As a result, we are able to expand our minimally invasive surgery capabilities for cardiac, vascular and neurosurgery patients.
The new pavilion features include patient, family and caregiver zones in the patient rooms, sleep sofas in all rooms, writing desks, safes for patient belongings, and large, comfortable family waiting areas. It also includes an expanded imaging department on the fourth floor, plus 12 classrooms and a 300-seat auditorium to attract regional and national conferences and events.
The design of the new building focuses on the patient/family experience and integration with the existing hospital campus by taking advantage of opportunities for connectivity, advanced medical care and enhanced use of green space. The pavilion provides a whole new experience for patients, with a much more conducive environment for healing and recovery.
Four floors of the pavilion house the new Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. The 71,500-square-foot facility is the only children’s hospital on Long Island with all private rooms. It includes a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, adolescent unit, procedure suite, hematology/oncology unit and medical/surgical units. Amenities of the Children’s Hospital include classrooms, a playroom, a teen lounge, a neutropenic playroom and treatment rooms.
Over the past year, our team has been hosting “Day in the Life” events to allow all of us to prepare, test and validate integrated equipment and systems, familiarize ourselves with the new surroundings, understand the new workflows and paths of travel that have been created by interdisciplinary teams, and discover and resolve identified issues before moving in.
These events also allowed many physicians, nurses, ancillary and support staff and others impacted by the move to utilize scenario based exercises that tested processes such as patient presentation, registration and admission, patient discharges, transfers within the hospital, paths of travel to procedures and ancillary services, code responses, patient and family interactions and communication and handoffs between staff and physicians. During the move on Nov. 17, I watched as staff from every department utilized those practice sessions and worked together to ensure that the move was accomplished with seamless efficiency.
Move-in day was incredible! It was a culmination of thousands of hours of planning, more meetings than we can count and staff from every department in the hospital working together towards one common goal. Each and every one of us has contributed in some way to the opening of this state-of-the art facility.
I know that we all experienced a range of emotions on move-in day, but the overwhelming one for me was pride, a feeling of pride like I’ve never experienced before. All of the practice, all the rehearsals, all the planning paid tremendous dividends. Your investment of time, energy and effort to benefit our patients, and ensure their safety and care during such a monumental undertaking, is something I will never forget.
I want to thank our entire team for your patience and for all of the great work in making this project a reality. I know that it has been a long journey, but it will be rewarding to see it utilized to advance and transform the way we deliver healthcare in our community.
Carol