Conrad Prebys Emergency & Trauma Center in San Diego, California by McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.

Article source: McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., (www.mccarthy.com) has completed construction of the 13,500-square-foot addition to the emergency department and trauma center at Scripps Mercy Hospital, located at 4077 Fifth Ave. in the Hill crest area of San Diego.  Scripps Health officials recently dedicated the expanded facility, renaming it the “Conrad Prebys Emergency & Trauma Center” in honor of its largest donor.

Front Exterior Dusk (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

• Architects: McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
• Project: Conrad Prebys Emergency & Trauma Center
• Location: San Diego, California
• Photography: Steven Whalen

Front Exterior Day (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

Representing the second phase of a four-phased, $41.3 million expansion and remodeling project, the new addition doubles the size of the existing emergency department and trauma center to encompass a combined 27,000 square feet of space.

Lobby (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego is the largest hospital in the county and host to one of the busiest emergency centers in the region, accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some 60,000 patients were treated in the hospital’s emergency department in 2011, averaging 164 patients per day. Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego also operates the busiest trauma center in the county, providing trauma care to more than 2,400 patients each year.

Patient Room (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

As a leader in emergency and trauma care, Scripps Mercy San Diego has experienced a steady increase in patient volume over the years. The expansion project is helping the hospital to continue providing advanced heart and surgical specialty care at the same facility location.

Suite A (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

Phase one of the project, which McCarthy began in summer 2010, involved the relocation of utilities on Fifth Avenue to an area outside of the new building footprint. A portion of Fifth Avenue was realigned to increase the site area and allow for a patient drop-off parking area.

Phase one also involved construction of a temporary lobby.

Suite B (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

The phase two, 13,500-square-foot addition was performed by McCarthy on a compact, 18,500-square-foot site on the east side of Fifth Avenue, immediately adjacent to Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego’s existing emergency department. Construction of the single-level structure utilizes drilled-pier foundation systems, with structural-steel building superstructure and plaster-on-metal stud-framed exteriors.

Once the emergency department and trauma division have moved their operations to the newly built space, McCarthy will begin phase three, which entails complete tenant improvement remodeling of the existing 13,500-square-foot emergency care facility. The fourth phase will involve construction of a parking area across the street from the expanded facility.

Suite C (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

When fully complete, the Conrad Prebys Emergency & Trauma Center will accommodate 49 beds — double the number of beds previously available.  Four trauma bays will double the patient capacity of its current trauma center, accommodating up to eight people.  A department-dedicated CT scanner adjacent to the trauma room bays eliminate the need to transport patients to the hospital’s radiology department. A dedicated telemetry system with continuous wireless monitoring capabilities allow staff to constantly monitor all patients. An in-house lab expedites test results for physicians and nurses so they can diagnose and treat patients as quickly as possible.

“Working within the constraints of the compact project site without interfering with the fast-paced operations of the existing emergency and trauma center presented significant challenges to workers at the site, who had to be prepared at all hours to respond quickly to matters as they arose, such as night time emergency helicopter traffic,” explained McCarthy Project Director Steve Van Dyke. “Moving forward, we’ll remain in close communication with Scripps Health officials to ensure that construction continues to go smoothly and hospital staff are able to perform their jobs unimpeded.”

Trauma Bay (Image Courtesy Steven Whalen)

The new facility is named in honor of Conrad Prebys, a prominent San Diego developer and philanthropist who donated $10 million to support Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego’s emergency department and trauma services center in 2006. The gift is the largest donation to the not-for-profit hospital in its 121-year history. It marked Prebys’ first donation to Scripps, which was followed in 2011 with a $45 million donation to build the new Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute on the campus of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, which McCarthy is also constructing on behalf of Scripps Health.

“Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego is a Level I Trauma Center, the highest designation for trauma care assigned by the American College of Surgeons,” stated Scripps Health Project Manager Kirk Collins, who is overseeing the project. “This expansion is allowing us to further enhance our reputation as being a national leader in trauma and critical injury care.”

National design firm HDR is the architect.  Project team consultants include Degenkolb as structural engineer, Latitude 33 as civil engineer, Syska Hennessy as electrical and mechanical engineer, and MW Peltz Associates as landscape architect.

About McCarthy:

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the nation’s 10th largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2011) and has been ranked among the top five national healthcare builders by Modern Healthcare since the magazine began its annual ranking more than 30 years ago.  In Southern California, the firm has completed over $2.4 billion in healthcare work for the region’s most elite healthcare institutions.  In addition to San Diego, McCarthy has offices in Newport Beach, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; St. Louis; and Atlanta.  McCarthy is 100 percent employee-owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.

Tags: California, San Diego

Category: Hospital

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