Prescription for growth
St. Vincent's Hospital adds to Birmingham campus

By Nancy Mann Jackson

Brasfield & Gorrie LLC of Birmingham began work on a $40 million project at St. Vincent's Hospital in September 2002, but the contractor and hospital were not new acquaintances.

Brasfield & Gorrie has maintained an almost constant presence at the Birmingham hospital's campus for more than two decades, continually building and renovating facilities as the hospital grew.

The current project - a seven-story expansion of the women's and children's center - will be completed in October as the contractor commences work on the next St. Vincent's project, a new South Tower on the same campus.

"Since 1981, Brasfield & Gorrie has been St. Vincent's contractor of choice," said Mike Dunn, the contractor's on-site project manager. "I've personally been at St. Vincent's every day for more than 14 years."

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Dunn is joined on the project by superintendent Kenneth Brown, another Brasfield & Gorrie leader with extensive experience working with the hospital.

The project architect is Todd Robinson with Nashville-based Earl Swensson Associates, the same firm that completed a master plan for the hospital a few years ago and is now working through the plan, which includes the current project. Led by professionals with such longevity and familiarity with the client, construction on the expanded women's and children's center has gone smoothly and stayed on schedule.

St. Vincent's expanded women's and children's center will begin utilizing all its new space from day one.

Liz Moore, the hospital's director of marketing and communications, said the hospital has experienced tremendous growth over the past five years, with patient numbers growing by 21 percent in the past three years.

The addition will include 21 new birthing suites and one new caesarean section room, all of which will be accessible from the current birthing floor. A new outpatient surgery center will include four operating rooms with the capability to add two more in the future. A diagnostic center will house state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, some of which is unavailable anywhere else in the state.

Three floors of physician office space is already leased and a joint venture neurosurgery practice will locate on the top floor St. Vincent's and provide two neurosurgery procedure rooms.

There will be 500 new parking spaces in a deck underneath the main floors of the building.

The new women's and children's center will also allow St. Vincent's to provide a high level of care reflective of the latest technologies. Since the early 1990s, the hospital has strategically worked to incorporate high-tech solutions to improve healthcare and is widely recognized as a leader in the area.

While its older buildings have been upgraded to accommodate such tools as wireless Internet access and electronic medical recordkeeping, the new building will be equipped for the latest innovations from day one.

"We have a strong tradition as a high-touch provider and by coupling that with technology, we're enabled to provide better, more efficient patient care," Moore said. "It's nice to be able to build for the technology you want and need, and this new facility is allowing us to incorporate technology easily into our workflow.

For instance, St. Vincent's just began using computerized physician order entry, which allows doctors to order certain procedures electronically from a patient's bedside. Computers at every bedside offer access to real-time medical records and other resources such as MRI images and X-rays, and allow patients to check into the hospital electronically from their hospital rooms - or from their homes before arrival.

In the near future, the hospital plans to begin using Smart Card technology, which will record pertinent patient information and increase efficiency.

Although it may be one of the most technologically advanced, St. Vincent's is also the oldest hospital in Birmingham, founded in 1898, and is located in the heart of the city. While Brasfield & Gorrie has built or renovated many of the facilities on the six-building hospital campus, its current project is the most visible.

The expanded women's and children's center juts out over the Red Mountain Expressway, a major thoroughfare that cuts through the mountain that defines downtown Birmingham.

"We oriented the building to take advantage of the vistas," architect Robinson said. "This building probably has better views of downtown Birmingham than any in the area. We took advantage of the corners for identification, with two illuminated St. Vincent's logos built into the corners. We also created a four-story atrium area starting at ground level that is like a glass showcase, is visible and attractive and also helps with way-finding."

Project manager Dunn said the building makes a statement. "We get comments about it from everybody," he added. "This is what you see when you come into downtown. It doesn't just sit out on the road, but it sits in the heart of the city."

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For more information about St. Vincent's Hospital and its expansion plans, go to: http://www.stv.org/