Q and A: Landscaping Process and Considerations

Landscaping a new hospital takes strategic planning and  much effort.  Hitchcock Design Group, Sherman Hospital’s landscaping architect, has answered a few questions some of us might be curious about when it comes to landscaping for a newly constructed hospital.

1. The hospital has taken a positive environmental stance with their geothermal lake. Are there any other environmental, energy-conservation or “green” aspects of the project that readers and supporters should know about?

Using a predominantly native plant palette is environmentally conscious, conserves energy, and is ‘green.’ Native plants are well adapted to the climate of Elgin, so they do not require special soil treatments, fertilizer, herbicides, or other human interventions to survive and thrive making them a sustainable choice.

Establishing native plantings require specialized maintenance, called “stewardship” in the industry, for the first three to five years however, once established, the native areas require significantly less mowing, fertilizing, weeding, and other energy intensive maintenance than a typical Kentucky Bluegrass lawn.

In addition, native plants are an important component of a healthy ecosystem providing food and habitat for amphibians, reptiles, mammals and insects.

Patient Centered Hospitals: Ease of Access, Patient-Friendly and Efficient

Today, approximately 90% of hospital visits are on an outpatient basis. This wasn’t the case for most of the 20th century when the layout and design of hospitals was based on two influences: the care of inpatients and the organizational needs of physicians.

Up until the 1960’s, inpatients were almost the only patients seen in hospitals. Thus hospitals – the architecture and layout, processes and services – were designed according to the needs of inpatients and the attending physicians.

However, throughout the decades, advancements in medical technology and treatment made healthcare easier and unnecessary to admit patients. Inpatients have become outpatients and now the way hospitals were traditionally designed needs to change to accommodate this new way of using healthcare.

Today, hospitals like Sherman Health have learned that the number of outpatients have increased significantly and have transformed the way health care facilities are designed and operate. They have come to recognize the emerging concept of patient-centered hospital design.

Sherman Hospital Architect Process Q and A: How is a patient-centered hospital built?

Sherman Hospital architects Katherine Faulkner and Nilay Desmukh have taken the hospital through the planning and construction progress for the past few years. Here are some answers to some of the questions you may have been wondering about.

1. Who were the brains behind the operation?

Started with Boldt Consulting Services, the project manager, who defined what Sherman would apply for during CON (certificate of need):

• 265 beds
• 650,000 sq ft max
• Which departments would be at the new location
• Only allowed a 7% margin of error.

Then SBRA (Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott) were brought on board for the overview and design process.

2. Did the Sherman community contribute?

Sherman put together 34 “multiple user” groups, consisting of hospital leadership, doctors, nurses, staff, and management—the people who use the current hospital and understand how it works, and who would be making use of the replacement hospital.

Each group had a specific focus, and each group was charged with thinking ahead: what would be best for patients at the new hospital? What sort of facility would push Sherman toward their goal of being the best community hospital in the nation?