$125 million tower consolidates outpatient services: new building designed with families in mind.

Work wrapped late last month on the 190,000-square-foot, 60-bed west tower at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, the largest part of the multi-phase expansion of the complex.

The five-story structure, which will open to patients this summer, includes a 12-bed intensive care unit, a new emergency room and six operating rooms, increasing the hospital's capacity to 457 beds.

The $125 million expansion is an effort to centralize operations and improve access on the 101-year-old campus, said medical center Senior Vice President Warren Tetz.

"We're trying to get most of the outpatient services in one area," he said.

The tower is positioned on the northern portion of the campus and fronts Chevy Chase Drive, although the main entrance faces the hospital's existing north tower.

Chevy Chase also serves as the entrance to the new 36-bed ER, which includes digital X-ray technology and a dedicated express elevator that can transport patients directly to the tower's cath labs or six new surgery suites.

Above, most of the hospital's exterior walls are equipped with oversized windows that frame the Glendale skyline or views of the Verdugo mountains.

Glendale Adventist Associate Vice President Rob Marchuk said hospital officials wanted windows that would not only offer patients and their families an inspiring view, but also to draw attention to the tower from the street.

"It will be a beacon of light from the outside," he said. "We've paid a lot of attention to light."

For patients and families, the natural light "really helps them get better," he said.

"We wanted a building with unobstructed views," Tetz added later. "The patients are going to be too sick to enjoy the view, but the families can."

The focus on families continues in patient rooms, each equipped with a bench that can turn into a separate bed. The ICU also has a family lounge and patio, "so that family members can be with the patients at all times," Tetz said.

The family-centered features are an upgrade from the existing Adventist patient areas, where room to expand is limited, he said.

"Our facility just didn't have enough space," he said.

The hospital is expected to receive occupancy permits in June, with departments moving in throughout the month.

Build up to tear down 

The Adventist tower is one of several large-scale healthcare projects in the Valley area to replace aging facilities.

Glendale Adventist's sister facility, Simi Valley Hospital, is building a four-story, 146,000-square-foot tower with 144 rooms scheduled to open this summer.

Work also continues on an expansion of Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, where crews last month began pouring concrete for the new main entrance of the hospital. The project is slated to open by September.

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At Providence St. Joseph in Burbank, crews also broke ground earlier this month on a new, 97,000-squarefoot medical office building at West Alameda Avenue and South Frederic Street that will house outpatient surgery and Lakeside Healthcare urgent care center.

The Adventist project has many of the challenges faced by similar older hospital campuses, which often feature a jumble of buildings constructed over several decades.

"That's the way hospitals grow," Tetz said. But the arrangement also means departments are often spread across different areas of the hospital, making it difficult for patients and doctors to navigate easily.

"As a hospital that's been around for a long time, we've been adding buildings," Tetz said. "It becomes problematic as time goes on."

The master plan for the Glendale site calls for replacing older buildings and centralizing operations into new structures easily accessible by hospital staff and patients.

Eventually, several existing buildings will be torn down to make way for a central courtyard that will link the new tower with the older buildings.

Just west of the tower is a new 500-space parking structure and plans are in the works for a new ambulatory surgery center and medical office building nearby.

For hospital officials, the new buildings and master plan are expected to improve Adventist's reputation not only among patients, but in the physician community as well.

BY CHRIS COATES 

Staff Reporter