Neurosciences Center and Bed Tower project spurs chess match of moves at SRC and beyond 

 

A patient bay and the new nurses’ station on Celentano 2 at the Saint Raphael Campus. A former endoscopy suite was turned into the new Medicine Observation unit.

Cranes, bulldozers, excavators and trucks are drawing a lot of attention to the sites of the future Neurosciences Center and Bed Towers project.

But there are numerous less-obvious projects in the works or recently completed at the Saint Raphael Campus. Many are “enabling projects” – so named because they enable work on the Neurosciences Center and Bed Towers. Many involve permanently relocating clinical and nonclinical departments from buildings slated for demolition. 

One of the latest projects is Celentano 2, which was converted from an endoscopy suite into a Medicine Observation unit with 14 patient bays, two private rooms and an exam room. After an eight-month renovation, the unit opened to patients on March 14. The endoscopy suite moved to the Verdi 2 OR area.

Last December, the Children’s Day Hospital moved to its new home on George Street (see March 30, 2023 Bulletin). It was previously in the convent building, which was recently demolished. As with other enabling projects, the move provided an opportunity to create larger, more patient- and staff-friendly spaces. The SRC Dialysis unit is another example. With its move from the Whitcomb building to a newly renovated unit in the Main Building basement last April, it grew from six to eight patient bays and has more advanced equipment and additional space for administrative and other staff functions. 

Other enabling projects include the relocation of the Pulmonary Lab, Respiratory Therapy and Clinical Engineering from the Private Building to newly renovated spaces on Main 2. The Private Building also housed several offices, which have been moved to different locations on and off the SRC. Demolition of the Private Building is expected to begin in May and take approximately six weeks. 

Often, these departments and offices can’t move until other departments vacate the spaces they’ll occupy. It’s a ripple effect that occurs over months, often years. While Facilities, Design and Construction coordinates these projects, they involve hundreds of other people from different departments, along with outside contractors. Tony Grasso, senior project manager, Facilities, Design and Construction, likened the process to playing chess.

“We can’t just empty buildings because we have limited real estate for relocating people and departments,” he said. “These projects take years of planning and a lot of coordination before renovation work even starts.”