Hazel Hawkins Hospital in Hollister, CA unveiled their most recent addition this past weekend in an open house for the public: a brand new state-of-the-art Emergency Department. As I wandered through, however, I couldn’t help but notice the design was unlike any hospital facility I have personally ever been to; it was actually semi-warm feeling. Though I doubt anyone will take notice once the hospital facility is being used for its intended purpose and people’s loved ones are brought there for care, before it is open for use, it is easy to take notice of the attention that was put in to making the department a comfortable place to work and utilize.
The facility boasts of many new features, including “18 total beds which includes seven private treatment rooms, three state-of-the-art trauma bays, four negative pressure treatment rooms (one of which will be an isolation room), and a four-bed “fast track” area to speed up service for people who come in with non-life threatening conditions. The ER will also have a technologically advanced imaging room, and decontamination room. A large, comfortable nicely appointed waiting area for family members will also be an asset to the ER.”
The waiting room I found to be adequate but it was nothing special compared to the rest if the building. Its architecture was designed to be cohesive with the existing hospital meaning it would too have glass block walls in the corners of the building making it light in the nurses’ lounge and the conference room. Its 18 rooms are painted with warm colors, unlike the stark walls that are usually present in hospital facilities. There is plenty of privacy, even though each room has a sliding glass door, because each door has a curtain that can be pulled that covers the glass. Also the glass will be more sound proof than normal emergency rooms that only have curtains alone separating patients making providing privacy easier. The layout makes it seem spacey because the ER is set up so that one hallway can be followed all the way around the facility making it much easier for a flow to be maintained. The doctors’ sleeping rooms and offices are also understated and nicely done.
Though I hope to never require their services, it is comforting to know that there is a state-of-the-art and, though the very words are contradictory, well-designed hospital facility in my home town.
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