Orthopedic care with one roof overhead.

Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

When the new four-story Slocum Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine on Coburg Road opens its doors at the end of next year, patients will have access to a range of services under one roof, instead of having to schlep all over town.

"Patients will have access to subspecialities basically right inside the front door, rather than have to be sent from office to office to see a sports medicine specialist, or a trauma specialist," said Thomas Wuest, president of Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest.

Patients coming in with a fractured ankle or dislocated joint can go directly to surgery on the fourth floor, instead of waiting for surgery at a different location, Wuest said.

Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest specializes in treating bone, joint, soft-tissue and related disorders. The new center will be named in honor of Dr. Donald Slocum, a founder of Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest.

Today, the 140-employee organi- zation celebrates groundbreaking for an 80,000-square-foot medical office on the prominent Coburg Road site formerly occupied by the Goodwill thrift store.

One year ago, Wuest joined Steve Korth, director of real estate and development for McKay Investment Co., to announce plans to build the center. It will allow Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest to unite its Eugene and Springfield offices, and to offer patients an array of related services, such as physical therapy, acupuncture and massage.

McKay, owner of Oakway Center, developed the $20 million medical center, and Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest will lease the space.

The building was designed with function in mind, said Whitney Churchill, project architect with the Neenan Company, a firm based in Fort Collins, Colo., that specializes in health care projects.

The clinic will be on the second and third floors. A series of offices and exam rooms will be pinwheeled around shared X-ray and casting areas, Churchill said.

"The shape of the building was dictated by what needed to happen on the second and third floors, which isn't standard practice, but it worked out," she said.

The fourth floor will house an outpatient surgery center with three operating rooms, plus a fourth room that could be converted into an operating room later on, Churchill said.

A special discharge elevator serves the fourth floor, giving patients leaving the surgery center direct access to a drop-off area at street level to be picked up by a friend or family member.

"You're not in the main traffic pattern, which is a little more comforting" to someone coming out of surgery, Churchill said.

The first floor will feature a 150-person capacity conference center, a 7,000 square-foot physical therapy suite with a 90-degree therapy pool; an imaging suite with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, a retail area for durable medical equipment such as crutches and wheelchairs; and a pharmacy.

The building was designed to meet national LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, which encourage the use of sustainable building materials and water and energy efficiency.

At least 85 percent of the materials from the demolished buildings will be reused in other projects, Churchill said.

The building has occupancy sensors for lighting, so lights don't turn on as long as the light from outdoors is adequate, she said. Architects expect the demand for electricity to be a third less than a standard clinic building.

Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest also attempted to create an office environment that was sensitive to the health of patients and employees by reducing the use of building materials containing formaldehyde and PVC, Wuest said. Foundation work on the project begins in August, with steel going up in September. By March, the roof and walls should be in place, followed by interior work.