The doors of the $140 million Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Center for Advanced Care will open on Monday to welcome its first patients. While some clinics are opening Monday, the center is scheduled to be fully operational on Jan. 11, 2016.
The 12-story, 613,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Care is the new home of the Froedtert & MCW Heart and Vascular Center and Transplant Center. It is also the first step in a multi-year project to meet growing demands for surgical, inpatient and outpatient services on its academic medical center campus.
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“The Center for Advanced Care is the linchpin in an overall plan to bring together our surgical, interventional and intensive care areas on a single, centrally located floor,” said Dr. Gary Seabrook, senior medical director of surgical services for Froedtert Hospital and chief of the division of vascular surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “This building paves the way for us to create a seamless service environment that eliminates redundancy, enhances patient flow and safety, fosters operational efficiency and supports new technology. Few hospitals in the nation have accomplished this level of care integration.”
Space vacated by moving clinics and services into the Center for Advanced Care will enable next steps in the plan, which include renovating original Froedtert Hospital operating rooms to better accommodate current surgical technology and locating all operating rooms together on one level at the cost of an additional $100 million. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2020.
“Our decisions to build are always based on demand for services, and we proceed only when the number of patients consistently exceeds our capacity,” said Cathy Buck, president of Froedtert Hospital. “Our patients are at the heart of every discussion. The Center for Advanced Care not only offers the most cost-effective solution for our growing needs in surgical, outpatient and inpatient services, but also provides a welcoming, healing place for our patients.”
The Center for Advanced Care is the new “front door” for all patients arriving for surgery, cardiac catheterization and interventional radiology procedures. An arrival and recovery center simplifies admitting and pre-operative steps, and includes an expansive, comfortable waiting area for families and patients that offers sweeping views through floor to ceiling windows.
The Froedtert & MCW Heart and Vascular Center, which experienced a 170 percent increase in outpatient volume over the past 10 years, occupies the entire fourth floor and provides outpatient care for cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiac surgery, interventional radiology and vascular surgery and diagnostic services.
The new building also unites clinics and support services for the growing Froedtert & MCW Transplant Center on the second floor, and houses the services of the Surgical Specialties Clinic, which include minimally invasive surgeries, bariatric, colorectal and trauma surgeries.
The building is the vertical equivalent of about 15 acres and creates approximately 30 percent more space for clinical and operational needs. It currently has 208 rooms, including 102 exam rooms, 56 pre-operation and recovery rooms, and 25 rooms for heart and vascular diagnostic and other procedures. Three stories are for underground parking.
Floors slated to open in 2016 will include dedicated inpatient space for cancer patients requiring hospitalization, as well as additional outpatient clinic space. One floor is reserved for future growth.
Planning for the Center for Advanced Care has been underway since 2009, and construction began in August 2013. The team behind the design and construction of the Center for Advanced Care visited Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore; and the University of Chicago Medical Center to get ideas.
The Chicago office of CannonDesign served as the architects, and M.A. Mortenson Company headquartered in Minneapolis did the construction. Seabrook said the project came in on schedule and under budget.
Minority- and women-owned businesses contributed significantly to the project, representing 23 percent of the firms involved and exceeding Froedtert’s goal of 15 percent MWBE participation.
In addition, 18 students from Milwaukee Public School’s Bradley Tech High School participated in hands-on and classroom sessions at the construction site through the Tech Terns program, a pioneering two-year curriculum to encourage careers in engineering, architecture and construction.
The public is invited to tour the Center for Advanced Care on Saturday during a free community open house from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is located at 9200 W. Wisconsin Ave. in Wauwatosa.
