About NCH • Our Vision for the Future

New Patient Care Addition Stands as the Most Visible Component of our Larger Renaissance Project

Our campus expansion project continues – and progresses! Construction of Northwest Community Hospital’s eight-story Patient Care Addition (PCA) has been topped off, which means the steel frame of the building is complete all the way to the top floor.

In September, we’re continuing the fireproofing of the steel frame. What you won’t see is what’s going on inside the addition, where we’re focusing on the mechanical, electrical and plumbing aspects of the building, including a permanent hook-up to ComEd power.

The PCA, which will feature 200 private patient rooms by early 2010, is easily the most visible component of the hospital’s Renaissance Project.

The $250 million Renaissance Project is the most ambitious redevelopment initiative the hospital has undertaken in its almost 50-year history. And while it’s a big project, to fully realize its size and scope first requires that you step back and grasp the even larger vision of all that’s going on at Northwest Community Hospital.

Creating a new kind of community hospital

As the Patient Care Addition is to the Renaissance Project, our Renaissance Project is to our larger vision to create a new kind of community hospital.

Our community is growing, and along with growth comes an increasing demand for quality healthcare services. To meet that demand, Northwest Community is seeking not only to expand services, but also to raise expectations of what a community hospital can be – to redefine “community hospital.”

With input from experts across many fields, from our own physicians and staff, and from the people who come to us for care, we are creating new facilities, new levels of service, and world-class medical care to serve the entire region. In fact, northwest suburban residents can already bypass the trip to downtown Chicago when seeking the best medical care and the latest technologies. It’s all available today at their local community hospital.

Excellence at every level

Because a world-class hospital pursues excellence at every level, our vision to redefine the community hospital encompasses:

Expertise: It’s our intention to offer comprehensive care for complex diseases like breast, prostate and colon cancer. We’ll fight these diseases with teams of expert physicians, specially trained nurses, the most powerful and precise technology, and just as important, exceptionally supportive care.

Service: Familiar faces, homelike environments, people who really listen – human relationships and personal service are at the heart of our culture. We plan to build on that commitment with new conveniences and services for patients and their families, and with new connections to the community.

Environment: It’s here where you’ll find the major aspects of our Renaissance Project. We’re creating an environment that improves staff performance and patient outcomes; a hospital that brings caregivers closer to patients, and patients closer to everything they need.

We are completely rethinking the hospital’s physical environment and its connection to a patient’s health, safety and emotional well-being. Considerations involve the design of all spaces – from patient rooms to family areas, from the sounds you hear when walking through the halls to the lighting of rooms and public areas, and even in the outdoor landscaping throughout the hospital campus.

Renaissance guiding principles

In developing our vision for the Renaissance Project, we asked ourselves questions like: How can we enhance the experiences of our visitors and truly exceed their expectations? How can we take a fresh look at the way physical environments – like patient rooms and family areas – are connected to physical healing? And how can we create soothing spaces that rejuvenate the soul?

The answers to these important questions led to the core principles that now drive the project. These principles, which spell out “Renaissance,” embrace:

• Respect for the individual needs of all hospital users.
• Evidence-based design throughout the structure and process.
• Natural environments that promote health and healing.
• Adaptability in anticipation of an ever-changing healthcare environment.
• Integration of holistic care, serving the mind, body and spirit of the hospital’s patients, families and staff.
• Safety through innovative design features, creating more secure settings that meet all regulatory body requirements.
• Standardization of processes, supplies and design to create a more efficient environment with increased value.
• Archetype design elements to provide continuity between the main hospital campus and all sites throughout the community.
• Needs that are met through patient/family-centered concepts.
• Community-centered values for the hospital’s services, programs and communications.
• Enabling of processes through the use of leading-edge technology.

Principles at work

As already stated, central to the Renaissance Project is the new Patient Care Addition. And while our guiding principles initially apply to the PCA, ultimately they will help direct the future design of all Northwest Community patient care environments.

The design throughout is evidence-based. Evidence-based architecture creates safe and therapeutic environments for patient care while encouraging family involvement. It promotes efficient staff performance and is restorative for workers under stress. These designs ultimately should improve the organization’s clinical, economic, productivity, satisfaction and cultural measures.

In fact, we have opted to only incorporate those aspects of evidence-based design that enable truly measurable outcomes. We’ve created a matrix with some 50 tangible targets, such as reducing patient falls by a certain percentage and likewise reducing infections and operational expenses such as utility, water and waste costs.

Every aspect of our hospital’s design has been rethought to encourage healing and relaxation. This includes:

• Spacious, private rooms to enhance healing
• Monitoring and diagnostic equipment thoughtfully integrated into each room so it’s always close at hand when needed, yet unobtrusive when not
• Nursing stations close to patient rooms, encouraging clear communication and prompt response to patients’ needs
• Patient rooms designed to accommodate many medical procedures so patients can remain comfortably in their rooms as they recover
• Private baths and overnight accommodations for guests offer a sense of “home” within the hospital
• Thoughtfully designed work spaces that streamline workflow patterns for caregivers while optimizing safety
• Redesigned public spaces to engage all the senses and allow for integration with the surrounding community
• Use of environmentally sustainable materials in construction that acknowledge Northwest Community’s responsibility to protect the environment for future generations

Clearly our Renaissance Project is discovering new possibilities for healing spaces. In the process, it is redefining what a community hospital can be – for patients, the community and for the people who work at the hospital every day.