After spending $2 billion and 10 years in planning and construction a new hospital, Stanford Health Care is just days away from its most-anticipated moment: wheeling in patients.
The complex at 500 Pasteur Drive will be abuzz starting this Sunday at 6:30 a.m. with the unveiling of the new Emergency Department. The new ER is the full length of a football field and includes 66 individual patient rooms, a stark contrast to the current, often-cramped emergency department, according to Stanford Health Care. Eventually, the old hospital's ER will be used for treating pediatric patients and will feature a television and computer with children's games and internet access in each exam room.
CEO David Entwistle will escort the first patient across the enclosed Sky Bridge from the old hospital at 300 Pasteur Drive to the new one at 9 a.m. after a ribbon-cutting ceremony and opening remarks. All current patients are expected to be transferred to the new 824,000-square-foot hospital by 3 p.m.
The new space includes 368 single-patient rooms and was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, who attended an event celebrating the completed project last month. In an interview with the Weekly, Viñoly described how the facility can be expanded in the future as needed and incorporates five healing gardens and windows that offer views of nature.
The hospital opening comes after two community open house events in mid-September, when the public was given tours of the seven-story complex. Over the summer, more than 4,000 physicians, nurses, staff and volunteers underwent rigorous training to become well-acquainted with the new facility, according to Stanford Health Care.
"This new facility will allow us to continue to do that amazing research — to be able to produce the science that then produces the Nobel laureates. ... Stanford is a step above," Entwistle told the Weekly in a video interview earlier this year.
Related content:
• New Stanford Hospital has lots of high-tech, but some older systems still remain
• Hear Dr. George Tingwald, medical planning director for Stanford Health Care, give an overview of what's inside the new Stanford Hospital on an episode of "Behind the Headlines," now available on our YouTube channel and podcast page.
Comments
Old Palo Alto
on Nov 14, 2019 at 4:05 pm
on Nov 14, 2019 at 4:05 pm
Great. Lot's of money for a fancy facility and I'll bet expensive surgery equipment. Still no reporting or transparency of patient outcome or medical errors.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 15, 2019 at 9:35 am
on Nov 15, 2019 at 9:35 am
Posted by Ofer, a resident of Old Palo Alto
>> Great. Lot's of money for a fancy facility and I'll bet expensive surgery equipment.
I'm kind of frustrated by the approach many hospitals are taking on this. You know the real reason that hospitals have been and are being replaced, rebuilt, and re-engineered throughout that state, right?
I guess this is one of those, "The truth? You can't handle the truth!" moments. Earthquakes. And I don't mean MLS. This has been very costly to the state's economy, and ultimately, patients and providers and all of us. But, it really did need to be done. I just wish the PR people could lay off all the gee-whiz-technology stuff. They could just as easily have installed whatever new MRI equipment etc in the old building. Thank goodness these seismic upgrades are happening.
From 2010:
Web Link
In 2019:
Web Link
However, although the driving force for this was the seismic upgrade, thank goodness Stanford did something about the ER situation in the process.