Gresham Smith-Designed Freestanding Emergency Department Opens Its Doors to Patients
Gresham Smith announces that the newest Baptist Health Emergency Care center has opened its doors to patients. Situated in a residential suburb west of Miami, the full-service emergency room increases access to convenient, high-quality healthcare by providing emergency services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We know that our community desires trustworthy and high-quality care close to home, and we plan to deliver just that. Our new location was designed to serve as a healing environment,” said Nancy Batista-Rodriguez, CEO of Baptist Outpatient Services, part of Baptist Health South Florida. “Patients’ wants and needs were top of mind from the beginning to ensure their trip to the ER is hassle-free.”
“Trips to the emergency room can often be a stressful experience, so our team worked to design a facility that can efficiently accommodate all emergency care services while also creating a calm, welcoming environment for patients and their families,” said Luis Cano, AIA, Senior Vice President at Gresham Smith. “In addition to enhancing the patient experience, the Emergency Care center also offers a functional, flexible layout to elevate staff satisfaction and the overall delivery of care. We enjoyed partnering with Baptist Health on this project and look forward to the ways it will serve the western Miami-Dade County community for years to come.”
Modeled after Baptist Health’s Emergency Care center in West Kendall, a prototype facility also designed by Gresham Smith, the nearly 40,000-square-foot building’s exterior utilizes pre-cast concrete, metal panels and glass to align with branding strategies and reflect the organization’s quality of care. Deviating from the prototype, site constraints led to a second floor for medical office shell space.
Inside the facility, a modern, sleek design and intuitive wayfinding enhance the experience for patients and staff. Focusing on the idea of transparency, the design team incorporated glass to create clear sightlines and increase visibility for care teams. To reduce circulation conflicts and promote efficiency, the ground floor layout is arranged by level of acuity, with low acuity services located in the front of the building and high acuity care in the back. The concentric center core houses nurse stations and medication and supply rooms, as well as standardized treatment rooms that can flex based on demand.
In addition to the Baptist Health Emergency Care centers in West Miami-Dade and West Kendall, Gresham Smith is also designing a neighborhood hospital in Doral, which is slated to complete in 2021.
