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Welcome to The New Rice!

Rice Memorial Hospital is about to embark on a new and exciting phase in our 65 year history. The $51 million redevelopment of our hospital campus will move Rice and the way we care for patients, into a whole new era. We have worked with designers and planners to build a new health care facility which, not only enhances patient care today, but anticipates the health care needs of tomorrow. Plans for The New Rice, take advantage of our 65 years of health care experience. The New Rice is a state-of-the-art, intelligently designed facility that's convenient and easy to use. It's an entirely new way of delivering health care -- a total healing environment that incorporates art, music, light and nature.

The total healing environment you will see in The New Rice uses a patient-focused design. This is a whole new way of envisioning health care delivery where an environment is created that supports healing and addresses the inherent stress in the lives of patients and their families. The patient-focused design means that many once-centralized support services are now decentralized. Where, formerly, the patient was carted around to various departments in the facility, now the services are brought to the patient. This not only is this more convenient for the patient and family, but also capitalizes on the team approach to the care that is given at Rice.

But, why build now?

Quite simply, Rice has good people, who use cutting edge technology to deliver excellent service and now it is time for our building facilities to match our excellent care. And as we continue to expand our current services and offer new programs, we need more space. So, in order to continue to meet the health care needs of our community, some significant issues need to be addressed:

1. Improving Patient Care - The new facility will be a patient-focused, healing environment. This means that services such as physical therapy, respiratory therapy and pharmacy will be located directly on the patient floors. This will increase patient privacy as well as convenience and efficiency. In addition, a new outpatient services area will be conveniently located on the main floor of the Hospital. In the new building, patient room size will more than double. We want to offer room for you, your nurse, the technology you need, and room for your family.
2. Asbestos - The majority of patient rooms are in the 1972 wing which contains asbestos. Currently, Rice conducts frequent tests to ensure patient safety, but many maintenance issues have had to be postponed so that the asbestos is not disturbed. Mechanical and electrical systems must be updated soon. Abatement would be much more expensive to do on its own, apart from a building project.
3. Parking - This is the number-one complaint we hear from our patients and their families. A trip to the hospital is stressful enough without adding to that a parking dilemma, so we will be adding more patient and visitor parking.
4. Interest Rates - We hope to capitalize on current interest rates which are at an all-time low. In addition, we expect that construction rates will also be favorable if construction begins this year.
5. Retaining and Recruiting Health Care Staff - We are seeing current and growing shortages in nursing, medical technicians and physicians. We need a facility that will help us attract and keep the best health staff to serve your health care needs.
6. Being the Best - We are proud that Rice is a regional referral center and we want to keep it that way. We want you and your neighbors to choose Rice for your health care instead of traveling to competing hospitals outside the area.

Why are you tearing down the old building?

We have looked at many alternatives, but it comes down to this. The original building, built in 1936, can no longer facilitate the technology we use to care for patients today. There is also great need for parking. Removal of the original building will allow us to expand the current parking area and create a more-defined entrance for our patients, their families and visitors. Every effort will be made to preserve features of the original building and incorporate them in the new facility.

Project Summary

* approximate square footage

** The Women's Health beds are located on the Women and Children unit also housing OB and Pediatrics. These beds will be used for adult female patients, obstetrical patients not in the birthing process, and pediatric patients as dictated by census requirements.

*** Six operating rooms are located in the main surgery department, with a C-section room located in the Women's Health unit. The plan is for all C-sections, elective as well as emergency, to be performed on the Women's Health unit.

Other New Facilities:

Inpatient Rehabilitation (PT, OT & Speech), Pharmacy and Respiratory Therapy will all get new space on second floor in the center core of the medical/surgical patient area. We believe this will minimize patient transportation and improve staff efficiency and effectiveness.

A helicopter landing area will be constructed on the top of the facility. We believe this will improve safety for helicopter transport operations.

The morgue will be relocated to the lower level of the east side of the new facility with greater separation from patient care areas than in the current facility and with greater privacy for funeral home transportation. A viewing room will also be part of the new facility.

Renovations:

The following departments will be relocated into renovated space in the 1972 wing after all asbestos has been abated in that structure:

Lower Level (Basement)
Maintenance
Information Systems
Health Information Systems storage
Human Resources

First Floor (Ground level)
Medical Staff Services (Lounge, Dictation, Mailboxes)
Medical Library
Physician Call/Sleep Rooms
Health Information Services (Medical Records)
Neurodiagnostics (Sleep Lab)

Second Floor
Hospice
Mental Health Unit (current location)
Administration

1972 Wing Infrastructure

All asbestos will be removed from the 1972 wing, the electrical service and switch gear will be upgraded, along with other mechanical system upgrades.

Demolition

The current facilities comprising the north wing of the hospital, constructed in 1936, 1943 and 1957, will be demolished to make room for additional on- site parking for patients and visitors.

 

 

 

Patient & Visitor Parking Plan

As we begin construction on our hospital redevelopment, the safety and convenience of our patients and their families is our top concern. It is this concern that has prompted us to develop a plan to get our patients, visitors and staff in to, out of and safely through our buildings.

First of all, we have set aside the closest available parking, that is, all spaces to the south of the hospital for patients, their families and visitors, with some spaces allotted for volunteers and clergy. You will notice on the map, these patient & visitor parking areas are designated in yellow.

We also want you to be aware of the two new entrance/drop-off areas. We have relocated our main entrance to the north wing of the hospital, off of Becker Ave. This will be a covered entrance with staff available to greet and direct patients and visitors. There will be parking spaces available for short-term drop-off parking, you will note that these are marked in orange. This parking is 1-hour parking only.

Secondly, the entrance to the Emergency Room has moved to the other side of the building, off of Trott Ave. This area will be used by ambulances as well as for patient drop-off after 8:00 p.m. We have also set aside parking for ER patients, marked in green on your map.

We sincerely appreciate your patience during this time of transition. We know that throughout this short-term inconvenience, we can anticipate a new facility... built for our future!

click here to download a printable version of our Patient & Visitor Parking Plan map