Scripps Awards Contracts for First Phase of Regional Medical Campus Expansion

New Tower to Serve as Hub of Scripps Cardiovascular Institute

Scripps Health has awarded contracts to Jacobs Project Management Co., HOK and McCarthy Building Companies for the first phase of construction for the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla campus expansion.


Scripps unveiled its 25-year master plan for the Scripps La Jolla hospital campus in November 2010. The plan includes the replacement of the existing hospital with three new hospital towers to meet state earthquake safety mandates, while taking advantage of the opportunity to build the most comprehensive medical campus in the region. The campus also will include research and graduate medical education facilities, an outpatient treatment center and medical offices.


First phase of construction will consist of a new eight-story hospital tower that will serve as the hub for the Scripps Cardiovascular Institute. Jacobs will provide project management services and oversee the general contractor, McCarthy, and the architect, HOK.


“We are pleased to partner with acknowledged industry leaders like Jacobs, HOK and McCarthy to build an innovative, patient-centric facility that reflects the most advanced health care design principles,” said Chris Van Gorder, President and CEO of Scripps Health. “Over the next 25 years, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla will be rebuilt to meet the region’s health care needs for the rest of the 21st Century.”


The project is set to begin construction in March 2011 and the new hospital tower will open for patient care in 2015.


The 383,000-square-foot first hospital tower and a supporting 18,000-square-foot central energy plant will cost $456 million. Funding will come from a combination of philanthropy, operating revenue and borrowing. It will feature 108 in-patient beds in private rooms, 60 intensive care beds, six state-of-art operating rooms, four cardiac catheterization labs with the most advanced medical technology, centralized cardiovascular research labs and a center for graduate medical education.


The new hospital tower will make the most of health care resources for the community by bringing together the cardiovascular programs of Scripps La Jolla, Scripps Green and Kaiser Permanente. Scripps and Kaiser recently agreed to a 10-year extension of their 30-year partnership.


Computerized room-level observation stations, a decentralized medication dispensing process and decentralized nurses stations will allow caregivers to closely monitor patients and improve communications with family members. Rooms will include a variety of amenities for families, including wireless Internet access, LCD screen televisions and comfortable pullout couches for overnight stays.


Building design, which will incorporate numerous green building principles and practices, was developed with input from physicians, nurses and clinical staff to ensure efficiencies that will foster exceptional care in a safe, comforting environment. Large expanses of windows will take advantage of natural light, water- and energy-saving devices will be incorporated wherever possible.


Established on Prospect Street in downtown La Jolla in 1924, Scripps La Jolla moved to its current location in 1964. Today, the hospital provides care to more than 140,000 patients annually, is equipped with 389 beds, and has more than 2,400 employees and approximately 900 affiliated physicians.


The Scripps La Jolla master plan is part of multi-year improvements being made to facilities throughout the Scripps Health system. Projects include a new emergency department and critical care building, a parking structure at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, and the new Conrad Prebys Emergency and Trauma Center, a new parking structure and central energy plant at Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego. Other facility improvements include seismic upgrades and investment in new information technology


Media Contact: Lisa Ohmstede

Phone: 858-626-7142

E-mail: ohmstede.lisa@scrippshealth.org

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