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www.HCOnews.com
MAY/JUNE 2009
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 3

CHILD’S
PLAY
Planners for the New Children’s Hospital of
Pittsburgh Polled Key Constituents to Create
an Ideal Healthcare Environment
Page 12
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEPARTMENTS Safety/Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
CORRECTION
People in the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Building Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
HC&O News strives to report
Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 FEATURES accurate information. Please
send comments to hco@emlen-
News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
pub.com or contact managing
Design/Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Facility of the Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 editor Matthew Crawford,
(415) 460-6185.
Maintenance/Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Hot Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Publisher
Eli Gage
Editorial Director
Theodore Gordon
Managing Editor
Matthew Crawford
Contributing Editors
Roibín Ó hÉochaidh
Amy Perry
Art Director
Gabriella Neal
Associate Publishers
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Editorial Advisory Board
Andrew G. Beilfuss, vice president, RTKL
Associates, Los Angeles
David Kurtz, vice president, Mercy Health
System, Janesville, Wis.
Robert D. Levine, vice president and
general manager, Healthcare Group,
Turner Construction, Brentwood, Tenn.
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w w w. H C O n e w s . c o m H E A LT H C A R E C O N S T R U C T I O N & O P E R AT I O N S — M AY / J U N E 2 0 0 9 3
LLISTENING &
ISTENING &
LEARNING
LEARNING
Planners for Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Use Research to Improve Healthcare Environment

By Matt Kapko

12 H E A LT H C A R E C O N S T R U C T I O N & O P E R AT I O N S — M AY / J U N E 2 0 0 9 w w w. H C O n e w s . c o m

hen it came time for Children’s Hospital of
W Pittsburgh of UPMC to upgrade its facili-
ties, planners set out with one core goal in
mind: improve the experience of everyone who sets
foot inside.
After more than a decade of master plans, revisions
and all-too-common funding snafus, the new CHP rose
like a phoenix from its demolished former self and
opened to the public on May 2. In the end, 30 percent
of the old complex was kept intact, but much of the
original building was leveled during construction of the
a new $293.6 million building.
“The initiative to look into a new building design
actually lead to a paradigm shift for the owner,” says
Tim Powers, senior vice president of healthcare at
Astorino architectural firm’s Pittsburgh, Pa. office.
“The possibility of a new building created the opportu-
nity to build a new model.”
Once UPMC committed to building a new facility, it
embarked on a plan to improve medical delivery while
creating a new identity based on feedback from con-
stituents who use the facility.
“In essence, the main problem that we had to solve
was that children’s hospital was always associated with
a larger, conglomerate hospital UPMC,” Powers says.
“Children’s hospital didn’t have an identity.”
PROJECT TEAM
Owner: UPMC
Architect: Astorino
Associate Architect: John Sysko
General Contractor: Barton-Malow-P.J. Dick
Integrated Systems Contractor: Johnson Controls Inc.
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FACILITY OF THE MONTH
CHILDREN HOSPITAL OF
PITTSBURGH OF UPMC
Construction Cost: $293.6 million
Building Area: 1 million square feet
Land Area: 3 acres
Patient rooms: 296 licensed beds including 41-bed
emergency room and trauma center, 36-bed pedi-
atric intensive care unit, 12-bed cardiac intensive
care unit and 31-bed neonatal intensive care unit.
• Nine floors of inpatient and outpatient care areas
• Private rooms with overnight accommodations for par-
ents
• 20,000-square-foot family resource and activity center
• 13 Operating Suites, including six equipped with
leading-edge minimally invasive equipment
• Nursing workstation for every two patient rooms in
addition to computer and communications equip-
ment that enhances efficient communication within
teams of caregivers
• Paperless information management system that allows
physicians to place nearly all inpatient care orders
electronically, eliminating handwritten and verbal
orders
Control, connection and energy were other reoccur-
ring themes revealed during Fathom’s research process.
In the old building, shared patient rooms made it
impossible for children to control their room environ-
ment. The hospital is now composed entirely of single-
patient rooms that offer several opportunities for
patients to adjust the environment to suit their needs.
Fold-out beds are also stored in most patient rooms to
give parents a more convenient way to stay the night, if
they choose to.
“From the parking lots to the spacious, private
Shaping Identity patient rooms, each and every aspect of the hospital is
CHP is anything but lacking identity now. The 1 mil-
lion square-foot complex spans three acres and has 296
patient rooms. Friendly, warm colors are featured
designed to improve the healing environment and to
make patients and their families as comfortable as pos-
sible during their stay,” says Eric D. Hess, vice presi-
inside and out, and improvements were based on in- dent and project executive of CHP. “Behind the scenes,
depth research with patients, family and staff.
There’s colorful movable furniture in the waiting
room, along with artwork, a fish tank, toys and games.
A family town square houses a two-story movie screen
where kids can watch educational and entertainment
programs with loved ones. Even the cafeteria screams
fun with a carnival theme.
To determine the ideal identity for the new hospital,
Astorino tapped Fathom, an in-house affiliate research
firm, to conduct one-on-one interviews with patients, fam-
ilies, nursing staff, doctors, administrators and others.
Conclusions drawn from Fathom’s research led
planners to look at the hospital as a community that fos-
ters healing.
“That entire community exists for the sole purpose
of helping sick people,” Powers says. “We need to care
for the staff because if they become run down, dis-
mayed or disaffected that would lead directly to the
care of the patients.”
Color stood out as one of the most important factors
for patients. Interviews with patients lead the Fathom
team toward more sophisticated colors, instead of tradi-
tional healthcare tones.
Transformation was another overarching theme
that Fathom pulled from its research, and designers
worked to implement that concept in a meaningful way.
One of the hospital’s main corridors has a long
mural with a dynamic array of colors representing the
four seasons — symbolism for the changes children
and families will go through during the healing process.
H E A LT H C A R E C O N S T R U C T I O N & O P E R AT I O N S — M AY / J U N E 2 0 0 9 13
FACILITY OF THE MONTH
we’ve achieved an unmatched level of
digitalization including a fully-integrated
electronic health record that dramatical-
ly improves patient care and safety.”
Community Connection
Perhaps the most unique aspect of
the building is the patient atrium, an
area on the sixth floor that leads to an
outdoor healing garden that separates
people from the hustle and bustle of the
main lobby.
Patient rooms surround the 4,000-
square-foot atrium and healing garden so
even those children who can’t get out-
side can still see this healing space from
their room.
“This sixth floor patient atrium area
almost became a town square for them,”
Astorino says.
Most hospitals want the lobby to be
the grand expression of who they are,
Powers says, but CHP decided to scale
back on that area because it thought the
atrium would mean more to its patients,
families and staff.
“We believe that architecture has
the capacity to be an element in the
healing process,” Powers says. “The
building is not secondar y to the heal-
ing process. It actually can promote
14 H E A LT H C A R E C O N S T R U C T I O N & O P E R AT I O N S — M AY / J U N E 2 0 0 9
healing if it’s done effectively.”
With that frame of mind, Astorino
designed the facility with many ways to
access the outdoors.
“We wanted you to have an outward
look and understand that there are
other people in this community who
care for you,” Powers says. “The whole
building was designed to foster those
relationships.”
A Personal Experience
Looking back on the project, Powers
says it will take a few years before he’s able
to look at the building with unbiased eyes.
“Actually, being an architect ruins
your experience in life,” he says. “I’ll
walk into a building and see all the
things that went wrong. All I do is look
at all the mistakes.”
However, Powers says when he is
able to look at CHP without a critical
P R O D U C T D ATA
Carpet and Flooring:
Carpet: Interface Flooring
Ceramic Tile: Crossfield Ceramics
Sheet Vinyl: Forbo, Tuli, Altro
Vinyl Composition Tile: Forbo, Sincole
Epoxy Terrazzo: Crossfield Producers
Construction Materials:
Acoustical Ceilings: Armstrong
Brick/Masonry: Mankato Kasota,
Trenwyth
Cabinets: Custom – Reverse Copper
Panels
Composite Metal Panels: Centria,
Kawneer
Door Hardware: Von Duprin, Hager
Rockwood, Schlage, Glynn-
Johnson, Ingersoil Rans, Ives,
Pemko
Metal Doors: Steelcraft
Wood Doors: VT Industries
Elevators: Schindler
Glass/Glazing: Pillington
Insulation: Certain Tees, Monoglass
Laminate Millwork: Wilsonart, Formica
Solid Surfacing Millwork: Corian
Paint: PPG, Sherwin Williams
Partitions: LaFarge, Clark Western
Plumbing: Charlotte, Nizeo
Roofing: Tremco
eye, he is sure he will realize the mag-
nitude of the 12 years of work that he
put into the project.
“We did it right,” Powers says. “We’re
all really proud of this thing. I think this
is the proudest achievement of my life. I
actually think I’m living through the
highlight of my life.”
Indeed, many went down a long road
to get to this point. CHP’s CEO Roger
Oxendale, who guided plans for the con-
struction of the new hospital, resigned
just one month after the hospital’s open-
ing. Oxendale’s departure was a long
time coming; he determined some time
ago that he would step down once the
hospital opened. I
Vinyl Wall Covering: Maharam
HVAC Control Devices: Johnson Controls
HVAC Units: Johnson Marcraft, McQuay
Lighting:
Indoor Lighting: Lithonia, Lightolier,
Cooper
Emergency Lighting: Bruck, I/O
Specialty Lighting: Winona
Security & Safety:
Alarms: Notifier/Johnson Controls
Fire/Life Safety Systems: Nelson, Grace
Intercom/Paging/Call Systems:
Stentafon
Locks: Schage
Security Systems: Johnson Controls
Pelco/Pegasus, EZ Lobby
Washroom Equipment/Supplies:
Drinking Fountains: Elkay
Showers/Shower Equipment: Aqus
Toilets/Sinks: Kohler
Washroom Accessories: Bradley
Washroom Partitions: Yemm/Hart
Miscellaneous:
ADA/Compliance Equipment: Bradley
Draperies/Blinds: Draper
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