Patient tower at Saint Francis opens to tours

Employees, volunteers, donors and other supporters of Saint Francis Medical Center gathered Friday afternoon to take the first tours of the hospital's newly completed patient tower.

The tours followed the placement of the historic statue of St. Francis on top of the new fountain near the main entrance Thursday and the blessing Friday morning of the five-story tower by Bishop James Vann Johnston Jr. of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese.

Self-guided tours began after the ribbon cutting with the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce. Those milling about on the first floor first came upon a waiting area and, just a few steps away, the gift shop and The Friends Cafe -- named after The Friends of Saint Francis foundation group, which is a partnership between Saint Francis and the Cape Girardeau restaurant My Daddy's Cheesecake. The cafe's opening coincides with the tower's opening Wednesday.

The first floor provides access to the outdoor Healing Garden and a connection to the existing building. Another hallway, once complete, will connect to the chapel. Marilyn Curtis, vice president of professional services, said some may remember the area where the patient tower sits once had a canopy and main entrance to the older hospital building.

The removal of the canopy isn't the only change for the building. As transferring patients to the tower begins Wednesday, the second and third floors of the existing building will be emptied. Curtis said that gives Saint Francis the opportunity to remodel those floors and make each patient room a private one. Offering each patient a private room is a key part of the hospital's Building on Excellence project.

The statue of St. Francis of Assisi is lowered into place outside the main entrance of Saint Francis Medical Center by the facilities construction crew Thursday in Cape Girardeau. (Glenn Landberg)

The medical center is a year away from finishing the total Building on Excellence project, which focuses on anticipating changes in the health-care industry and regional health-care needs. The project, with a cost of $127 million, is part of the hospital's 2011 strategic plan that was developed by doctors, other hospital staff and board members.

The Building on Excellence project includes the patient tower; a new pavilion for women's and children's medical services on the facility's north side; and a renovation of existing space.

The project began with a newly renovated Level III neonatal intensive care unit that opened in late 2013 and provided private rooms for babies and their families, Curtis said. An expanded Family Birthplace center also is in use with the renovation.

Completion of the tower "is a major, major milestone, but not quite the end of the journey," Curtis added.

Renovation of the northeast side of the hospital, which will include a tower with the pavilion for women's and children's services, is expected to be finished on time and on budget in July 2016 and will conclude the project. A new entrance on the northeast side of the hospital will open in August.

The focus of privacy with the patient tower extends beyond patient rooms. Guests traveling to each floor of the tower will use one of the visitor elevators, while patients have elevators for their own use.

The second, third and fourth floors are dedicated to patient rooms -- 120 in all -- each with a different physician specialty, such as general surgery and neural care. The building design places the patient rooms on the outside, giving them a window view of their surroundings, while nurses and support staff are stationed in the middle of each floor.

The influence of nurse and physician input is apparent in the rooms designs. Curtis and Dottie Worley, project director for Saint Francis, pointed out lifts that help nurses safely raise and reposition patients from their beds. Some rooms have lifts that can help nurses guide a patient into the restroom. Those walking room to room also will notice the no-threshold transition, meaning the floors seamlessly connect with no raised dividers.

Small touchscreen pads on the walls provide nurse alerts for fall-risk patients who are out of their beds, notification for follow-ups on pain medications and includes a rapid response button in case more hands are needed to assist a patient. Each pad sits next to a Saint Francis-designed patient board affixed to the wall, where information about the patient's nurses, doctor, schedule and more is available for patients and family alike to view.

A pneumatic tube system linked around the tower helps staff communicate more quickly and share items such as medications or prescription information. Curtis described the tower as "beautiful but functional," pointing to some of the smaller touches such as paintings along each hallway, many with images of Southeast Missouri.

The new designs and technology mean the hospital can cater to a larger crowd of patients with a variety of needs, Curtis and Worley said. That means patients in Southeast Missouri can seek treatment a little closer to home.

"When you can stay closer to home, that helps with your healing environment," Curtis said.

It also means a patient is more likely to receive visits from family, which is "extremely important" to patients, Worley said.

The hospital is leaving the top floor of the patient tower unfinished for now -- an intentional move that gives flexibility in determining its future use.

"We want what we've built to serve the region for many years," Curtis said.

Staff reporter Erin Ragan contributed to this story.

srinehart@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

211 Saint Francis Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO