September 10, 2003
UW Medical Center to give public a preview of new Surgery Pavilion
To see photographs of the Surgery Pavilion, go to http://depts.washington.edu/hsnews/pavilion.html
University of Washington Medical Center will offer the public a preview of its new Surgery Pavilion during a pair of open houses Sept. 19 and 20.
The public may tour the 160,000-square-foot Pavilion on Friday, Sept. 19, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 20, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., just prior to the UW-Idaho football game in nearby Husky Stadium. The Pavilion is located on the corner of Montlake Boulevard Northeast and Northeast Pacific Street, and is linked to UW Medical Center by a two-level, glass-enclosed skybridge. Free parking will be available underneath the building during the open houses. The entrance is off Northeast Pacific Street.
From convenient parking to one-stop patient registration inside, Internet access in the spacious, light-filled lobbies, and operating rooms and clinics featuring the latest technology available, every effort has been has been made to create the ideal patient experience in the Surgery Pavilion, said Dr. Edward Walker, UW Medical Center medical director.
“With the Surgery Pavilion, our goal is to establish a new standard for surgical care and training in the Northwest,” Walker said. “In designing the building and its clinical operations, we have sought to foster operational efficiency and create an ideal environment for all of our patients, physicians, students and staff.”
The Pavilion will open to patients in October. It will offer 275 parking spaces beneath the building, and comfortable, light-filled waiting areas for patients, family and friends. The new surgery waiting area looks south to the Montlake Cut and will have a unique tearoom above it. An espresso bar will be located on the first floor.
Walker said the Pavilion will provide integration of care between specialists, between surgical specialties and pre-surgery, and between the clinics and surgical treatment area.
This means providing easier access to care, beginning with timely and punctual appointments and careful pre-visit planning, said Kathleen Sellick, UW Medical Center executive director.
“Our goal is to acknowledge the value of our patients’ time, to ask questions of our patients once, and to make sure the answers are accessible to all members of the health-care team,” Sellick said.
The first floor will include the Urology and Urogynecology Clinics and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Prostate Center.
The second floor includes surgery check-in, 11 operating rooms, and pre-and-post surgery holding and observation areas.
The third floor will house the Surgical Specialties Center (General Surgery, Plastic, Vascular, and Surgical Oncology clinics), the Digestive Diseases Center and Neurological Surgery Clinic.
The large surgical suites allow the surgeons to use voice commands to control equipment, and view radiology images and medical records inside the operating rooms, which are all equipped to handle minimally-invasive surgeries.
The Surgery Pavilion was designed by the Seattle firm of NBBJ, with Richard Keating of Keating/Khang Architects of Los Angeles as collaborating architect. The design preserves the scenic Rainier Vista on the University of Washington campus and view from nearby neighborhoods. The curved roof nearly disappears behind a buffer of trees along Montlake Boulevard. The glass-paneled west side and several skylights bring an abundance of natural light into the interior space.
“We not only wanted to be sensitive to the surrounding environment, but to use the natural light to create a warm, healing effect,” Keating said.
UW Medical Center is ranked no. 10 among hospitals in the nation, according to the Honor Roll published recently by U.S.News & World Report.
