Queen of the Valley plans $130 million hospital wing

<p>NAPA – Queen of the Valley Medical Center has submitted plans for a 66,100-square-foot, eco-friendly hospital wing that will relocate the surgery center and intensive care unit and open sometime in 2012.</p><p>An official with the St. Joseph Health System-owned hospital said the nonprofit is still in the early design phases of the project dubbed “North Building,” but planners hope to break ground sometime near the end of next year. </p><p>The three-story, $130-million project will move the hospital’s six-room surgery center from the west tower near the front of the 21-acre property to the second floor of the new building on the backside of the campus. </p><p>Although the expansion will not increase the number of operating rooms, all outpatient surgeries will move to the ambulatory surgery center, and the four general surgery and two cardiac care rooms will be reserved for inpatient procedures.</p><p>Also, the surgery rooms are greatly expanded in size to accommodate larger equipment and advanced technology.</p><p>The top floor of the North Building will contain 20 new ICU beds up from its current capacity of 16. </p><p>Vice President of Strategic Services Ned Laubacher said hospital leaders have not decided if the current ICU beds will remain open for intensive care or be transferred to another use.</p><p>“During this whole initial development process with the city, there was lots of conversation about what the community needs are,” he said.</p><p>“And we definitely expect an increased need for intensive care level beds.”</p><p>One of the primary reasons for constructing the new wing, other than centralizing inpatient services, is meeting rigorous California seismic standards by the 2013 deadline.</p><p>Mr. Laubacher said the lab and pathology facilities that will fill the first floor of the new building are the only areas that need to be moved in order to meet the earthquake regulations, and the hospital is prepared to file for a two year extension if construction is delayed. </p><p>The current lab is located in the oldest part of the building constructed in 1958. Once the new building is completed, that area will be used for non-patient services, such as administrative and other offices.</p><p>A small storage facility called the Butler Building and two neighboring sheds will be demolished to clear the North Building site for construction, which will also consume about 80 parking spaces. A traffic analysis in the planning commission application submitted in May found that even without the spaces, the facility still has sufficient parking.</p><p>Officials said the hospital will experience very little disruption in services during the two years of construction.</p><p>Designers are still detailing the green specifications, but much will depend on the launch of the new LEED for health care rating system expected next year [See related story on p. 13]. </p><p>In addition to using environmentally friendly products, the hospital is also prioritizing details that are more beneficial to the patient’s health, including access to large outdoor terraces on the ICU floor.</p><p>Hospital officials also said they have shelved plans to expand the cancer center by 4,000 square feet but instead funded upgraded diagnostic equipment.</p>