Froedtert adding space

Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin will expand with three new construction projects to serve their rising numbers of patients.
Hospital officials say additional regional referrals for advanced specialty care from Froedtert’s partnerships with Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, United Hospital System in Kenosha, ThedaCare in the Fox Valley and Agnesian HealthCare in Fond du Lac, have contributed to the increasing patient volumes.
¥ Construction on a 10,000-square-foot addition to the Sports Medicine Center began in November and will be completed in June.
¥ Construction recently began on a 26,000-square-foot addition of the Wauwatosa hospital’s Birth Center and will be completed in November.
¥ Construction will begin this month on a new free-standing, 20,000-square-foot Outpatient Surgery Center and will be completed in January.
The combined cost of the three projects is estimated at $5.5 million.
"These construction projects will follow the same ‘logical not lavish’ approach that is consistently used in all of our facility planning and development," said John Balzer, Froedtert Hospital’s vice president of facility planning and development.
The Outpatient Surgery Center will be built along 87th Street, north of Wisconsin Avenue and across from the hospital’s east clinics entrance. The structure will include five operating and procedure rooms, plus space for preparation and recovery areas and reception, waiting and support space.
"The center is being designed to assure the most efficient, multi-specialty procedures and to offer the latest in minimally invasive diagnostic technologies," said Cathy Buck, executive vice president of operations for Froedtert. "Shorter, less complicated surgeries and procedures will be the primary focus of this facility."
The architect for the Outpatient Surgery Center is Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, and the contractor is Berghammer Construction Corp.
Froedtert’s outpatient surgery patient volumes increased by about 7% in the last year, hospital officials said. The new facility also is designed to accommodate future expansion.
Regional referrals have dramatically increased the number of complex surgeries performed in the hospital’s surgical suites, Buck said. The Outpatient Surgery Center will provide space for simpler, one-day surgeries, freeing up the hospital suites for about 2,000 additional complex impatient surgeries each year.
The Birth Center, located within the sixth floor of Children’s Hospital next to Froedtert, will be expanded into the building’s seventh floor. The center’s patient volumes have doubled since it opened in 1996.
The additional Birth Center space will include technology and facility improvements including whirlpool rooms, a high-risk prenatal assessment clinic, faculty offices and an education conference room.
Nine labor and delivery rooms, seven post-partum rooms will be added to the center. After the expansion, the center will have 15 labor and delivery rooms and 19 post-partum rooms.
The architect for the Birth Center is Zimmerman Design Group, and the general contractor is Tri North Builders.
The Sports Medicine Center addition will increase patient treatment space and add a 115-foot running track, sports flooring and other improvements.
The center’s relationships with the Milwaukee Wave, the Milwaukee Ballet Company and some high school and college athletic teams have helped increase community awareness of the quality of services and attracted more patients to the center, said Tom Engel, supervisor of the Sports Medicine Center.
In addition, more patients are becoming aware of the center’s women’s sports medicine program, Engel said.
The Sports Medicine Center is located at 87th Street and Watertown Plank Road, next to the Wisconsin Athletic Club. J.P. Storrs Co. is the architect, and Robert Bach Construction is the general contractor for the Sports Medicine Center expansion project.
April 16, 2004, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI