Recent News at WMMC
BUILDING FACTS:
- Campus
- Nearly $51.5 million building project
- Expansion and renovations bring total Medical Center to roughly 215,000 square feet, nearly double our current facility
- Private Patient Rooms
- 72 rooms total: 27 Medical/24 Surgical/13 Obstetric/8 Intensive Care
- Private Patient Rooms (cont'd)
- 300-square-foot private patient rooms with designated areas for families, visitors and caregivers
- Significant Features
- A tranquil healing garden for patients and families to relax, reflect and connect
- New inviting, aesthetically pleasing lobbies
- Significant Features (cont'd)
- All new directional signage to assist patients and visitors with way-finding
- New perimeter drive enabling improved accessibility to departments throughout our facility
- Nearly 500 parking spots offering closer, more convenient parking for patients and visitors
- Remodeling to Current Facility
- Complete “reskinning” of entire Medical Center to incorporate new look with current facility
- Radiology
- Cardiopulmonary
- Interventional Pain Management
Building a Healthier Future for You and Your Family...
As the health care needs of our greater community evolve, Western Missouri Medical Center (WMMC) has been busy planning for your future. For more than three years, we have been working with HMN Architects, Inc. on our master facility plan project so that we can offer you and your family advanced medical care in a state-of-the-art facility, closer to home.
This past April, we finally broke ground on our $51.5 million project by hosting a groundbreaking event attended by a variety of supportive community members (pictured above). Attendees included the County Commissioners, WMMC Board of Trustees, representatives from the WMMC Auxiliary and Medical Staff, WMMC Administrative Team, HMN Architects, Inc. and JE Dunn. The event marked the actualization of this significant milestone for WMMC and our community.
Our Mission—to improve the health of our greater community, exceeding the expectations of those we serve—was the inspiration for our expansion and renovations. The project includes a state-of-the-art, two-story patient tower that features 72 private rooms, along with nearly 100,000 square feet of new additions.
"Our goal is to offer a patient-centered experience in a healing environment that encourages family participation—from the moment our customer arrives on our campus until they are discharged," says Craig J. Marks, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have designed a plan that will enable us to enhance our services so that we can offer advanced medical care in a state-of-the-art facility that better meets the growing health care needs of our greater community."
Safety and Convenience
A great deal of effort has gone into incorporating safety and convenience into every aspect of our master facility plan. While we understand with any type of construction you may have concerns about safety, we want to put your mind at ease. We will put forth all efforts to ensure your safety and accessibility throughout our Medical Center and campus. JE Dunn is expected to complete construction in late 2012. The project will be carried out in three phases, attempting to ensure minimal disruption throughout the process. To ensure closer, more convenient parking for patients and visitors, we are in the process of creating additional parking spaces. Also, we are asking a number of our staff to park off campus to allow patients and visitors to have optimal access to our Medical Center during construction. Along with the renovations, we will install user-friendly, directional signage throughout our campus. New permanent and temporary signs will be installed during construction to help assist you while navigating our campus. In addition, an interactive sign—to be located at the corner of Burkarth and Gay—will feature two digital screens to communicate the latest news to our community.
The Patient Experience
After considerable strategic and master planning, our team realized that offering new, all-private patient rooms was the first and most important step in achieving our Mission.
"A top priority for the Medical Center throughout our planning process was to improve the patient experience," says Kurt Broeckelmann, Architect, LEED AP, Associate Principal, HMN Architects. "Our designs focused on creating a healing environment that promotes patient and family interaction by incorporating features such as more space in patient rooms for family, a new two-story lobby with soothing water features and a healing garden."
Our 300-square-foot private patient rooms were designed with you and your loved ones in mind to enhance the healing process. Each room will have a "Family Zone" that may include features such as individual lighting control, sofa bed, recliner, flat-screen TV and desk. Each patient room will be equipped with a private restroom with a curb-less, zero-entry shower to provide safety, privacy and convenience for you and your family. To encourage the healing environment throughout the entirety of our Medical Center, we will offer a tranquil healing garden that features tables, chairs and benches to offer a therapeutic escape for patients and families. The inside garden is a two-story, interior courtyard, open to both levels. The lower level is accessed from the Main Lobby area and the upper level is accessed from a public corridor off the Labor Delivery Room (LDR) waiting room.
With more than 700 babies delivered each year at WMMC, we also wanted to offer a serene birthing experience. We will have a completely new Obstetrics Department with a spa-like feel, including larger post-partum rooms with a "Family Zone," larger LDR rooms and nurseries with dedicated lactation consultation spaces, a LDR waiting room and a LDR family retreat.
From our private patient rooms to healing garden, new cafeteria and lobbies, we want you to feel comfortable in an environment that promotes healing while you or your loved ones receive care. This is an exciting time for WMMC and our greater community as we carry out our plan to offer you the most advanced care in a state-of-the-art Medical Center, closer to home. Thank you for your patience throughout this process as we begin "Building a Healthier Future" for you and your family.
