This project encompasses the expansion and upgrade of the Family Maternity Center (FMC) at EvergreenHealth, including the Labor, Delivery, Recovery, and Postpartum Unit (LDRP), the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and the Ante/Postpartum Unit. These improvements include the creation of additional floor space on Level 2 to create an Obstetrics Emergency Department (OB ED), reorganization and upgrades to the Level 2 LDRP unit, expansion of the Level 4 NICU Unit, and upgrades to the Level 5 Ante/Postpartum unit, including new supplemental support spaces throughout.
The design team was tasked with providing an updated patient experience with a hospitality feel that is integrated into the overall hospital while maintaining its own unique identity. In addition, the project wanted to address workflow inefficiencies to create a new department that is a warm, positive experience for patients, visitors, and staff.
Through a series of hybrid in-person/remote integrated design workshops, we identified critical concerns, reviewed design options with user groups, and created a full-sized mock-up of critical spaces to test the layout for the new space. We brought together over 25 key stakeholders, including physicians, nurses, administrators, environmental services, information technology, security, facilities, consultants, and the general contractor, to share their collective knowledge and provide insight to the design process.
The result is a facility that is efficient, aesthetically beautiful, and provides excellent service to patients. Level 2 features an updated FMC lobby with a separate waiting space for maternity patients. An additional 1,000 sq. ft., created by expanding the floor plate into the atrium, allowed for an OB ED at the entry consisting of five private exam rooms and one treatment room. LDRP rooms were reconfigured to provide greater patient privacy and ease of patient care. A hospitality environment was accomplished by hiding medical equipment in casework and adding warm finishes and soft lighting.
The new design drew from the process of childbirth, which is an ebb and flow, expanding and receding to create powerful moments. The FMC experience mimics this motion, like waves on water, as the design ripples out from the lobby to key touchpoints, and into the patient rooms. The unique “ripple” aesthetic flows outward, until it seamlessly fades into the already-established hospital design language.
