Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • MORE +
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Construction & Design
November 04, 2022 07:30 AM

MetroHealth to open key piece of makeover

Crain's Cleveland Business
Lydia Coutré
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    4091_001_00_843.013_large_i.jpg
    Courtesy of HGA/Nic Lehoux Architectural Photography
    The MetroHealth Glick Center's 11 floors offer 316 private patient rooms, each with the ability to flex into double rooms during a surge.

    The MetroHealth Glick Center — the centerpiece of the health system's nearly $1 billion campus transformation — stands in glimmering, stark contrast to the antiquated hospital towers it was built to replace.

    Opening Saturday, Nov. 5, the hospital's 11 floors offer 316 private patient rooms, each with the ability to flex into double rooms during a surge. It stands next to a 3-acre park, a glimpse of the full 12 acres of park space planned once demolition of the old hospital and other buildings being replaced makes way for the full vision of MetroHealth's new campus.

    The new hospital offers families, patients and caregivers a very different experience than the current facility, starting with the front door, said Walter Jones, senior vice president of campus transformation.

    "The welcoming nature of it, I think, is the first thing to now greet our families and patients properly in a healthcare environment," he said. "To give them a sense that, you're in a warm receiving space, you're gonna get good care here. I mean, to the extent the building can communicate that, I think our main entry space starts to do that right off the bat."

    Families and caregivers


    The hospital took three-and-a-half years to build and is opening on time and "well within" the $767 million budget, Jones said, noting that the total also includes the future demolition of the towers, scheduled for 2024. MetroHealth completed the sale of $946 million in hospital revenue bonds in 2017 to fund the campus transformation.

    The hospital is named in honor of JoAnn and Bob Glick, who donated $42 million to MetroHealth, the largest gift in the system's history, to support programs aimed at reversing health inequities and improving community health in Greater Cleveland.

    The Glick Center's amenities also include the Nemat K. Boutros Meditation Room, Family Resource Center, Nature Gift Shop, on-site dining and more.

    The project involved 26 local firms, 10 of which are minority- or women-owned businesses. Turner Construction Co. led construction management, and HGA led design planning, architecture and engineering for the project, while Hammes Co., a healthcare facilities development company, served as the owner's rep.

    The "corner offices" of the patient floors are dedicated to families and caregivers: each have two family spaces for loved ones to take a moment but stay near the patient, and two break rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows.

    The staff break rooms were deliberate choices and differ from what these spaces have traditionally looked like in hospitals: often internal, without natural light and can "look like they're leftover spaces," Jones said.

    Offering relaxation for staff, many of whom struggle with burnout, is incredibly important, he said, pointing to the wellness rooms that also are in every unit. These are small, carpeted rooms with a reclining chair that offer privacy and a quiet space to relax. They also can be used as a lactation space.

    "Staff need as much ability to take moments where they can get away, they can decompress, they can exhale, you know, for the moment," he said. "They realize their duty; they realize what they need to do."

    In the center of the units are large conference rooms with glass walls, offering the most convenient way for teams to quickly gather to discuss care, Jones said, noting there are additional meeting spaces with more privacy available. The clear rooms work in the reverse as well, offering families comfort to see that the caregivers are nearby.

    Download Modern Healthcare’s app to stay informed when industry news breaks.

    Out of the vortex


    Plans for a new hospital were first announced in 2014, a few months after the aging infrastructure of the old facility was put to the test — and failed. A polar vortex delivered subzero temperatures and brutal winds to the region and burst pipes and flooded rooms to MetroHealth.

    Over the years, MetroHealth president and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros has recounted sharing with business and civic leaders the story of the polar vortex and hearing that MetroHealth's hospital was good enough for "those people."

    "These statements demonstrated that there was a significant lack of understanding of MetroHealth's critical role in our community, and they were emblematic of the attitude that some of our neighbors deserved less than others," Boutros said in prepared remarks for the Glick Center ribbon-cutting. "In a way, we owe thanks to these people. They got us charged up. We were angry and determined to prove them wrong. Quickly, we designed and built two new floors on top of our Emergency Department. And we financed it on our own."

    The Critical Care Pavilion, a 100,000-square-foot vertical extension with 85 Intensive Care Unit Rooms above the existing Level I Trauma Center, opened in 2016 as the first piece of MetroHealth's main campus transformation.

    The discussions to replace the towers quickly grew to encompass the entire 52-acre campus on West 25th Street, Jones said. Leaders recognized that by nature of the project, the campus would need to be reconfigured and rearranged. That led into discussions of how to best deliver care not as a health and hospital system but as a health and wellness system.

    "It became more of a catalyst for a much broader community transformation, and that started then getting itself input into the actions of the organization," Jones said. "First with the recognition of population health, the creation of the Institute for H.O.P.E., the development of our private, community development corporation CCH, and being able now to have a direct impact in terms of elements and the surrounding community."

    In collaboration with public, private, nonprofit and civic partners, the CCH Development Corp., formed by MetroHealth aims to accelerate the pace of revitalization of West 25th Street and the surrounding neighborhoods. Jones also pointed to MetroHealth's Institute for H.O.P.E. (Health, Opportunity, Partnership and Empowerment), which aims to tackle the social drivers of health, and to Via Sana, a health and housing project with 72 affordable apartments, spearheaded by Cleveland-based developer NRP Group in collaboration with MetroHealth.

    Also part of the campus transformation is what's known as the Apex building, an outpatient facility expected to be completed in late 2023 with the first patients seen in the first quarter of 2024. The demolition of the current outpatient buildings on campus will follow, allowing space for the full park to open in 2025. MetroHealth anticipates the RFP for park design to go out before the end of the year.

    "The transformation piece, if you will, started to expand and still continues to expand beyond that," he said. "And I think that's really a key thing over my eight years — but you've gotta remember it's Dr. Boutros' 10 — that you know, that has grown significantly in terms of what the vision, how the vision of MetroHealth, and its role in the community as a corporate citizen in this corner of the Clark Fulton neighborhood has, you know, manifested itself over this period of time."

    This story first appeared in our sister publication, Crain's Cleveland Business.

    Related Articles
    MetroHealth, MUSC Health partner to create healthcare company
    Airica Steed named next president, CEO of MetroHealth
    MetroHealth, CHC to create guide to system's health equity model
    Dr. Akram Boutros to retire as MetroHealth CEO at end of 2022
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    MUSC Health
    Medical facilities bring new life to struggling malls
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • MORE +
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing