Connect

How is the new Emergency Department (ED) going to look? In one word: Stunning. This is where form meets function at UVA Health.

“When you go in for the first time, what you see is a sparkling, nature-inspired environment,” says Rebecca Lewis, Administrator, Clinical Liaison for Facilities Planning. “Large panes of glass and an open design allow sunlight to flow in and evoke an open-air feeling.”

The layout is ideal for treating patients safely and efficiently in a comfortable and clean atmosphere. Rapid Medical Evaluation rooms, for example, take patients directly from registration to treatment.

Clean whites, crisp greens, sunny yellows, and calming blues catch your eye as you walk through the space. The floor-to-ceiling windows make you forget you are in the middle of a hospital. The main elevators are wrapped with a topography map. Abstract representations of Virginia plants adorn the hallways.

“In health-care environments, natural lighting is a high-value element,” says Lewis. “You want as much natural light as possible. It’s healing. It’s comforting.”

In dreaming up a new ED, Lewis and the team had several inspirations: “To be aesthetically pleasing, safe, nature-oriented, connected to the current hospital’s aesthetic or décor, and to be energy efficient for sustainability and durability.”

The outcome?

“The ED is as I imagined,” she says. “It’s a really nice environment in which to work, and the teams are very excited to transition to the new space.”

As refreshing as the design of the building is, the most important feature is the capability to provide the best care to the largest number of patients. Lewis’s favorite part of the new space is “the functionality, patient privacy, and how the pods flow together.”

“I have meetings every other week with the entire team of 39 interfacing departments,” she says. “We go back and redo and rethink and re-talk. Our product is far better because there is a lot of communication, and we have re-thought some things. The engagement of the health-care team has been crucial to this. I’m really proud of the work.”

The new ED will care for its first patient on Oct. 15.

See the space yourself at the Team Member Open House on Friday, Sept. 13, from 9 a.m. to noon. Read details here.