St. John’s New Hospital Center to Open

Invited guests and dignitaries were given a preview of the new Howard Keck Center at the Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica on July 28.   Described as state-of-the-art and the ‘home of breakthrough medicine and inspired healing,’ the building, located on the site of the existing hospital between Santa Monica Boulevard and Arizona Avenue, will open in September.   The Keck Center and the Chan Soon-Shiong Center for Life Sciences building, which opened in 2005, replace the old St. John’s Hospital, which was badly damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake.   The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in the Tarble Atrium, an entry point to the Keck building, which resembles a first-class hotel more than a traditional hospital.   The south side of the four-story building is flanked in windows, allowing sunlight to flood the first floor and the second floor balcony, where the food court is located.   The balcony space features a 16-ft. by 16-ft. digital media art wall that displays artwork from local and national artists and exhibits from local museums. The same images appear on large flat-screen monitors in outpatient waiting areas. On July 23, differing scenes filled the art wall, including one of flowers that provided a calm, meditative feeling.   On the fourth floor of the atrium, the stained-glass windows of the multi-faith Sister Marie Madeleine Shonka Chapel provide a colorful contrast to the neutral surrounding walls. The stained glass reflects the historical mission of the hospital, which has been a Santa Monica landmark for over 65 years.   A great deal of thought was given to positioning of medical services in the new hospital.   For example, the emergency room entrance (now located off Arizona Avenue) is adjacent to the diagnostic unit, and 13 state-of-the-art surgical suites are located directly above.   Each unit (e.g., orthopedic, (Continued on Page 3) surgery, oncology) has been designed for efficiency and patient convenience. Those services most needed by those patients have been clustered together so that patients won’t have to be transported to far points of the hospital.   Another noticeable difference from from many hospitals is the location of the nurses’ stations, which are located in the middle of each ward. Patients and nurses have immediate visual contact, which eliminates the inconvenience of hunting for a nurses station.   Each patient’s room has a TV system that features video-on-demand, e-mail, Internet and educational videos. In building the Keck addition, more than four feet of empty space was preserved between floors in order to accommodate an expanded technology system while also allowing easy access for repairs and future upgrades.   Many of the rooms resemble hotel guest rooms rather than hospital rooms. The birthing suites, for example, have windows with great views of the Santa Monica Mountains, and below the glass are built-in window seats that can double as a bed for a spouse. The philosophy was to provide a healing environment while offering comfortable accommodations.   On the birthing floor are two small operating rooms for Caesarean sections, a nursery and the postpartum unit.   Saint John’s opened on October 25, 1942 with 89 beds; the hospital’s two new buildings provide 236 private beds with the capability to expand to 268 beds. After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, Sister Marie Madeleine Shonka, co-chair of the legacy endowment at Saint John’s Health Center, received a call from the late businessman Howard Keck, who asked her what officials planned to do. He subsequently donated $5 million to start the planning process to rebuild the hospital. A year later, he gave an additional $5 million.   ’At that time there were some who questioned if we should rebuild,’ said William M. Murray, president and CEO of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System. ‘They said there were already too many hospital beds [in the area].’ But St. John’s decided to forge ahead because of its commitment to a continuing partnership with the community.   On the 13th anniversary of the Northridge earthquake, billionaire biopharmaceutical executive Patrick Soon-Shiong and his wife Michele Chan donated $35 million to the rebuilding effort. Ultimately, more than $499 million was raised towards construction of the Howard Keck Center and the Chan Soon-Shiong Center.   The hospital’s foundation rests on 21 earthquake-absorbing base isolators, which will allow it to withstand large-scale earthquakes. The numerous windows, which allow light to flow into all of the rooms, are coated with special reflective coatings that offer UV protection.   Lou Lazatin, president and CEO of Saint John’s Health Center, told assembled guests, ‘This remarkable facility is a testament of triumph over adversity.’   Once the Keck Center opens in September, the south tower of St. John’s will be demolished and replaced with a garden. Sitting in the second-floor cafeteria during the reception following the ceremony, with sunlight streaming in, this reporter thought that keynote speaker Rick Caruso’s comment that the center will provide ‘inspired healing’ seemed exactly right.