Wheaton Franciscan Franklin HospitalA new $89.6 million hospital located in Franklin, Wis., opened in April 2008. The five-story, 275,000-square-foot building was constructed on a 55-acre site and was built according to the Green Guild for Hospital Construction. The hospital is focused primarily on outpatient care, meeting the needs of southern Milwaukee and northern Racine counties.
Construction of the hospital began in June of 2006. Milwaukee-based CG Schmidt Inc. was the general contractor for the project, and Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Inc. was the architect. The health center was built with sustainable and renewable resources in order to improve efficiency and reduce the negative impact on the environment.
The unique shape of the hospital, which is modeled after a natural nautilus, is said by city officials to be the benchmark in design for the further development of the area. The innate shape is symbolic of the delivery of care within and offers greater efficiency in reducing the walking times of caregivers. Environmentally friendly design solutions are also found throughout the hospital. The facility features energy efficiencies in all phases of electrical water use such as indoor cooling sump for water efficiency, low-flow plumbing fixtures to control water usage, low-mercury fluorescent lamps and LED luminaires in the MRI and CT rooms.
Located on 55-acres of gently rolling land, the health center pays homage to the rural nature of the community’s surrounding. The exterior and interior design is loosely based on the Prairie School philosophy and Frank Lloyd Wright inspired vernacular design, which has its roots in Wisconsin. The entire building is clad with indigenous stone; something unmatched in the area, and landscaping that features indigenous grasses and plants all found within a 500-mile radius. The interiors are full of warm elements: stain glass windows, wood features, and intimate scale light fixtures that break away from traditional institutional environments and create home-inspired healing spaces.
The design is also symbolic of the delivery of healthcare within the facility and offers enhanced natural lighting as well as greater energy and staffing efficiencies. Nursing stations are located centrally to promote patient safety and reduce walking time for caregivers. The site also features a wireless network infrastructure benefiting both staff and visitors. State-of-the-art technology reduces human error in recordkeeping and prescriptions, improving patient safety and quality of care.
Some of the green features include: Use of LED luminaires:
LED down-lights in the MRI and CT suites
o LED luminaires illuminating patient comfort graphic panels
o Natural wetlands that were there have been left undisturbed
· The stone for the building was quarried from Wisconsin
· The hospital structure includes energy-efficient motion lights
· Low-flow water faucets and waterless plumbing fixtures
· There are many windows to admit natural light, including windows in some of the emergency room suites, which have been purposely designed to look less like an institution and more like a home.
That theme is continued in the inpatient rooms where wooden cabinets hide medical equipment and the oxygen and vacuum outlets, which would typically be in plain sight in other facility’s patients’ rooms. The emergency room is not an institutional square but has a curving hallway with dark flooring and subdued green walls.
A curving hall in the emergency room — replicated one floor above where the inpatient rooms are — is more efficient than a linear hallway because the staff doesn’t have to walk as far to reach patients. Also, as in the cardiovascular institute, patient rooms have windows with blinds so that nurses can watch patients without entering rooms and disturbing them.
The new facility has an 18-room emergency department, a surgery center, full-service imaging, primary care and specialist physician offices, a physical therapy center, walk-in care, cardiac rehabilitation, a sleep lab and headache center, plus a dining area, gift shop and a conference center available to the community.
The walk-in clinic is on the fourth floor. Physician offices are on the third and fourth floors. The hospital has 23 pre- and post-operation surgery beds, and 10 to 16 of those are available for overnight stays. The average length of stay for patients at the hospital, which is focused on outpatient care, is expected to be 12 hours. Some will require stays of about 72 hours.
Using green building designs increased construction costs by about 2 percent to 3 percent, but the investment is anticipated to result in an annual operational savings of 10 percent, paying for itself in 10 years.
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Center is consciously oriented to make wayfinding easy for patients and guests while also providing commanding views of the neighboring river valley and forest preserve. The site development and overall landscape theme references the native landscape of Southeastern Wisconsin. The design includes the enhancement of an existing wetland and extensive use of native trees, grasses, wildflowers and bioswales to reduce landscape irrigation and maintenance costs.
Lighting and MRI SuitesOne area of a healthcare facility that has lighting challenges is the MRI suite. LED lights are MR safe because they do not use filaments that can react with magnetic fields, nor do they emit radio frequencies. Lighting in MRI suites is challenging because of the short life of incandescent bulbs. Fluorescent lights can't be used either because they generate noise artifacts on patient scans. Light outages are experienced weekly by some imaging facilities, which shuts down the MRI suite for maintenance.
Additionally, by not having a filament, LED lighting eliminates the potential for an image-degrading artifact that can appear when an incandescent bulb’s filament is cracked.
Many times, when people come in for an MRI, they’re claustrophobic, anxious, stressed and scared. They walk into the suite nervous and if it’s a sterile environment, that anxiety keeps building. However, if they come into a room with subdued lighting and relaxing images to view it completely takes their minds off what they’re going through.
Cindy Ellingson, imaging services manager, first took notice of backlit murals and LED down-lights from other hospitals in the Wheaton system. They researched Everbrite Lighting, the manufacturer of the LED luminaires, and learned of their engineering expertise and first-rate reputation in the healthcare industry. Currently, the MRI suite uses four 4x4 graphic panel illuminators, nine down-lights, one dimmer system and one six-foot circular graphic panel ceiling system. The ceiling image is the work of world-renowned photographer, Monte Nagler, who works with Everbrite Lighting on lighting projects around the country.
Ellingson believes they have succeeded in creating an environment that helps MRI and CT patients relax and focus on something other than the procedures. Additionally, because of the use of LEDs, maintenance is virtually eliminated.
About Everbrite Lighting
MedLux family of lighting products has transformed lighting possibilities in MR suites. These revolutionary LED luminaires evenly backlight patient comforting graphics. With patented GPI illuminated light panel and recessed down-lights, they are superior to fluorescent and incandescent lighting.
Everbrite Lighting is a division of Everbrite, LLC, which has been in business for over 75 years. www.e-l-t.com ; 1-800-610-6053
About Wheaton Franciscan Services, Inc.
Wheaton Franciscan Services, Inc. is a Catholic, not-for-profit organization with more than 100 health and shelter organizations in Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. Started by the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters more than 100 years ago and formally incorporated in 1983, Wheaton Franciscan Services, Inc. is headquartered on the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters’ campus in Wheaton, Illinois and has its major operations center in Glendale, Wisconsin.
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