CLEVELAND – University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC) unveils the largest “Campus Transformation” in its 142-year history with a joint ceremonial groundbreaking of its new Cancer Hospital, Center for Emergency Medicine and Marcy R. Horvitz Pediatric Emergency Center, and Quentin & Elisabeth Alexander Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 in the Lakeside Gardens. These new, state-of-the-art facilities are key components of University Hospitals’ Vision 2010 strategic plan.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, along with numerous state and local political officials and community leaders, will participate in the festivities. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. with remarks at 10:30 a.m. The event will end with a visual presentation of University Hospitals Case Medical Center’s transformation since its founding in 1866.
UH’s Vision 2010 strategic plan is a $1.2 billion investment in Northeast Ohio that will have tremendous impact on the economic health of Northeast Ohio. Construction activities associated with Vision 2010 are projected to create more than 5,200 jobs at the height of construction and generate more than $500 million in wages, salaries and benefits. At the completion of the first full year of operation for each of the Vision 2010 projects, UH anticipates that more than 1,200 new hospital-based jobs will be created. In addition, UH created a historic project labor agreement with the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council to keep construction jobs local and to use minority- and female-owned firms
“We continue to celebrate Vision 2010, the largest endeavor that University Hospitals has undertaken in our history,” says Thomas F. Zenty III, CEO of University Hospitals. “The new construction and expansion of current services at UH Case Medical Center and throughout the entire UH health system exemplify our commitment to our patients, physicians and employees as well as the region. Vision 2010 will leave a lasting impression on our community and our health system for decades to come.”
“This Campus Transformation event is truly a celebratory occasion as we progress with the construction of these three instrumental building projects,” said Fred C. Rothstein, MD, President, UHCMC. “Vision 2010 has strengthened our 142-year history of caring for our community and underscored our unwavering commitment to our timeless mission – To Heal. To Teach. To Discover. This day represents the beginning of a new era in health care delivery for University Hospitals Case Medical Center, for our community and for our region. Most importantly, it marks a new day for our patients, whose lives will continue to be transformed each time they seek our care.”
Site work has begun on the new free-standing 120-bed Cancer Hospital, which will house all of the UH Ireland Cancer Center’s services under one roof, including diagnostics, outpatient and inpatient treatment, surgery, clinical trials, professional education and research. Designed to optimize patient care, the 375,000-square-foot facility will triple the square footage that cancer services currently encompass in seven different locations at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The Cancer Hospital, scheduled to be completed in December 2010, will be home to the latest treatment protocols and the most advanced diagnostic, therapeutic and information technologies.
“Our Cancer Hospital will be the region’s first free-standing cancer hospital and one of an elite group in the nation,” said Stanton Gerson, MD, Director of the UH Ireland Cancer Center. “Our facility will provide cancer patients in Northeast Ohio a high-level tertiary-care hospital devoted to proper diagnosis, treatment planning and innovative therapies, including surgery, radiation therapy and oncology care.”
The new Center for Emergency Medicine, scheduled for completion in 2010, will expand the UHCMC emergency department and will house the adult emergency department and the Marcy R. Horvitz Pediatric Emergency Center. The new facility, with 58 patient rooms, will have separate entrances for ambulance traffic and drive-up patients, as well as a new parking garage.
“Our current space was built in the late 1970s to serve an annual population of 40,000 patients,” said Edward A. Michelson, MD, Chair of Emergency Medicine at UHCMC. “The new Center will more than double our current space and is designed to maximize patient comfort, privacy and safety, while accommodating the more than 80,000 annual visits we anticipate each year.”
Construction is underway on the new Level III, 82-bed Quentin & Elisabeth Alexander Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. The NICU, due to open in early 2009, will bring together advanced technology, research and operative services in a homelike environment for newborns and their families.
“Our world renowned neonatologists and neonatal team are capable of caring for newborn babies with the most complex birth defects and other disorders in addition to their expertise with the tiniest preterm infants,” said Avroy Fanaroff, MD, Chairman of Pediatrics at Rainbow. “This new unit will further our longtime commitment to providing state-of-the-art care for all sick newborns in the presence of their families.”
Vision 2010 also includes the UH Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood, ambulatory centers in Twinsburg and Concord, and several expansions at UH community hospitals. A new Electronic Medical Record system is also a major component of Vision 2010.