Phoebe Sumter Medical Center – Oncology & Surgery Center

When a tornado ripped through the rural city of Americus, Georgia, the powerful storm destroyed the historic town’s only hospital. Phoebe Putney Health System called on Gresham Smith to master plan and design the new medical campus to attract top-tier physicians and nurses from larger cities, such as Atlanta. As one of three freestanding medical office buildings that define the boundaries of Phoebe Sumter Medical Center’s town square, the 20,300-square-foot Oncology & Surgery Center provides critical services for the medical village.

20k

square-feet

cisterns

1st

LEED Silver medical campus in the southeast

Top-Tier Treatment

The Center’s oncology suite has 13 chemotherapy bays and a beautifully planted garden sheltered by trees for outdoor treatments. The surgery offices, which make up the Center’s second floor, are warm and welcoming with arts and crafts details through the space. The Center is tied to the hospital’s lab via a pneumatic tube that runs beneath the town square, which allows doctors to receive results more efficiently and shortens treatment times.

Implementing Evidence-Based Design Strategies

Incorporating evidence-based design strategies into patient rooms – such as family zones and bedside control of the room’s temperature and lighting – was a major focus during the design process. Our team built detailed mockups of patient rooms and they were tested to ensure they functioned as intended. We also standardized rooms to decrease the chance of medical errors and improve the overall patient experience.

LEED Silver Certified

The Phoebe Sumter Medical Center campus was the first to be LEED Silver certified in the southeastern United States. We integrated low-VOC products, lighting sensors, low-flow plumbing and local materials to increase sustainability. Additionally, four, 20,000-gallon cisterns for rainwater harvesting located beneath the medical village’s town square reduce the campus’ dependence on city water for irrigation.