Team members who worked together to overcome challenges in three hospital projects are celebrating after winning the Vista Awards, which are presented annually at the International Summit & Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design & Construction (PDC Summit).

The awards, which were presented Feb. 25 by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association, recognize the importance of teamwork in creating an optimal health care physical environment. The winning teams showed a unity of purpose that helped their projects succeed from pre-planning to implementation.

The winners of the 2013 Vista Awards are the teams involved with the new patient tower at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash.; the renovation of the specialty surgical care unit at John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital in Phoenix; and the Swedish Issaquah Central Utility Plant in Issaquah, Wash. The projects won in the categories of best new construction, renovation, and infrastructure, respectively.

New Construction
MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, Puyallup, Wash.
The team working on the new patient care tower at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital faced plenty of challenges, including a city zoning height limit, an aggressive time schedule, no budget contingency, extreme site conditions, and even an electrical fire in the starter panel of a chiller (fortunately the fire was quickly discovered and damage was limited). The team held celebrations—including barbeques for hundreds of design, management, and construction staff—to keep morale high. Hospital President Glenn Kasman, FACHE, said collaboration and focus led to decisions that enhanced safety, healing, comfort, and efficiencies. “Inpatient admissions have increased by more than 12 percent in the current year compared with the prior one, with the Tower being a primary impetus,” he said.

Renovation
John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital, Phoenix
The team working to renovate the third floor of John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital had to meet a very tight time frame: designing and constructing a new unit within a 10-month window to serve the community during the high patient volume winter season. To minimize noise for post-surgery patients on the floor above construction, the team created a plan including noise reduction kits (radios with ear buds, ear plugs, and an explanation of how the hospital was growing), hourly construction breaks for some quiet time, and visits from design and construction staff to answer questions and address complaints. “The dedication and commitment of this project team to ‘get it done’ in a very short time frame in order to accommodate our high winter patient census was remarkable,” said Rhonda Forsyth, president and CEO of the John C. Lincoln Health Network.

Infrastructure
Swedish Issaquah Central Utility Plant, Issaquah, Wash.
The team working on the Swedish Issaquah Central Utility Plant was focused on being energy efficient without sacrificing the overall corporate mission of improving health and well-being of each person they serve. The team assigned a full-time energy engineer to be the “energy watchdog” for the project and worked closely with a third-party commissioning authority. Similar hospitals in the Pacific Northwest have energy use intensity of 250,000 BTUs per square foot annually, according to the hospital. The goal for Swedish Issaquah was 150,000 BTUs per square foot annually, and current utility data indicate that the hospital is performing even better than the goal. “We are especially pleased that our aggressive energy-savings goals were accomplished,” said Kevin Brown, CEO of Swedish Health Services.
 
For more information about the Vista Awards and the winners, visit the ASHE website.