Grandview Medical Center offers first glimpse inside

As the staff of Trinity Medical Center count down to the day they transition to the new Grandview facility, media were invited to take a first look inside the hospital.

Grandview Medical Center will begin operations at 3690 Grandview Parkway on Oct. 10, with a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 2. Grandview CEO Keith Granger said both Trinity and Grandview will continue full operations as patients are moved on Oct. 10 to ensure that care is seamless. The day-long moving process will involve around 30 ambulances transporting patients, at a pace of about four patients every 15 minutes.

"We will try to make sure the community is well-served during that process," Granger said.

The 1 million-square-foot medical center is nearly complete. During the tour, Granger pointed out a number of features designed to make care better for the estimated 200-250 patients Grandview will serve every day when it first opens.

These features included:

• A 3,000-space parking deck, one of the largest in the state, that connects to both the medical center and neighboring physicians' office building on the second and fourth floors. Granger said that it will be convenient because "wherever you need to travel, there's one parking deck."
• The emergency department on the second floor will be striving to keep wait times between 17 and 30 minutes. The ED has its own helicopter pad, patient parking and room for up to six ambulances to bring patients at one time. ER Director Mike Gaither said the ER is designed to be close to diagnostics and the catheterization lab so patients with heart attacks and other grave problems can be treated in the shortest time possible. There will be 22 rooms and two trauma rooms, as well as capacity for an eight-bed "fast track" unit.
• Six cath labs and two electrophysiology suites for diagnosing and treating a variety of heart problems.

• Facilities for mothers and newborns, including eight labor, delivery and recovery rooms, a well baby nursery and a 12-bed unit for neonatal intensive care, with private rooms and pull-out beds for newborns' parents to stay with them. Andy Romine, the chief nursing officer, said NICU nurses will have their phones programmed to receive alerts if their patients' vital signs set off alarms, even if the nurses are not in the room.
• The fourth floor's 150,000 square feet are devoted to surgery, with 38 prep rooms, 32 operating rooms and 34 recovery beds. The operating rooms are set up with special video equipment so other medical staff can observe procedures. There is also a hybrid OR with the facilities to perform multiple heart procedures as needed. Endoscopy procedures, such as colonoscopies and upper GI procedures, have their own area on the floor. Granger said the floor has a sterile corridor specifically for storing and moving equipment without contamination.
• There will be 56 beds for inpatient behavioral and psychiatric treatment.
• The intensive care unit is on the fifth floor with 48 beds in private rooms. Nurses in the ICU can work at desks stationed between room entrances, with small windows so they can monitor patients as needed.
• Grandview will be using Visi Mobile, a body-worn device that constantly monitors a patient's vital signs. Granger said they used the equipment in a test run at Trinity and felt that the round-the-clock monitoring, with data being sent directly to nurses and the patient's records, can do a lot to make patients safer and more comfortable with being in the ICU.
• Another new piece of technology is Aceso, an electronic white board in the ICU rooms that will contain information about the patient's medical care team, needs, pain scale, goals for the day and required activities. Patients will also be able to access information about dining, free movies and television, educational resources and information about the medical center campus.
• An open atrium with seating, plenty of windows for natural light and eating areas for families and medical staff. Granger said the curved front of the building is beautiful, but it did cause some limitations in creating their facility. "It's almost like we had to take an existing home and make it fit," he said.

With these new technologies and amenities, Chief Operating Officer Drew Mason said Grandview will be able to set itself apart by its bedside care and comfort for patients.

The ongoing road construction outside Grandview's 280 entrance is scheduled to be nearly complete by opening. Granger said some finishing touches will be added after Oct. 10, but the new turn lanes will be ready for use when the doors open. Mason said ALDOT will be continuing on a larger project to expand the nearby bridge on I-459 and Cahaba River Bridge to add more lanes.

Over the next few weeks, Grandview will hold two test runs of its move-in day ambulance procedures, as well as open house days for employees, volunteers and first responders. For those interested in seeing the new facility, there will be a community open house Sunday, Sept. 27 from 2 to 5 p.m.