Architects to design hospital renovation

| Wednesday, March 19, 2003 10:00 PM PST ∞

GIG CONAUGHTON
Staff Writer

Board members for North County's largest public hospital district ended a 60-day-long search this week, choosing Los Angeles architectural firm Anshen Allen to design the $329 million renovations of Escondido's Palomar Medical Center and Poway's Pomerado Hospital.

Palomar Pomerado Health, spurred by state orders for all California hospitals to improve their ability to withstand earthquakes, has chosen to rebuild much of its two hospitals by 2013.

In a close decision Monday night, Palomar Pomerado board members chose Anshen Allen, a firm that specializes in designing hospitals and health-care-related buildings. The firm is also handling the multimillion-dollar design of the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Not chosen was finalist NBBJ, an architectural group based in Seattle.

Palomar Pomerado board Chairman Dr. Alan Larson said Tuesday that his vote was swayed by Anshen Allen's vision of rebuilding the closed-in, isolated Palomar Medical Center as a community "jewel," complete with a central "healing garden."

"The idea of setting the (new) buildings aside and creating a parklike scene that they called a healing garden or a meditation-prayer garden large enough that it can be used for outdoor gatherings or meetings, I like that plan," Larson said.

Board members have worried publicly that even though the district is the largest public hospital district in North County ---- and California ---- it has a low "profile" within the 11 communities they serve, resulting in residents from those communities using other hospitals.

In an hour-long presentation before the Palomar Pomerado board on March 6, Derek Parker, Anshen Allen's senior principal architect, said the redesign of Palomar Medical Center and Pomerado Hospital could fix that by creating beautiful buildings that would increase public awareness and even increase philanthropic donations.

Parker also said a successful architectural design could reduce medical errors by creating spacious, work-friendly areas for doctors and nurses. For patients, brighter and less-forbidding hospital rooms will speed healing time and make it easier for family members to manage extended visits, he said.

On Wednesday, Parker said the redesign could even make it easier for Palomar Pomerado Health to recruit and keep more doctors and nurses ---- which has been particularly difficult in light of the national nursing shortage ---- and make its two hospitals "jewels" of North County.

"There's no reason it shouldn't be (a jewel of the community)," Parker said. "It's a very important part of the North County community. It's one of the largest employers, and it could be the employer of choice within the community."

State legislators passed strict new seismic retrofit laws in 1999, after the 1994 Northridge earthquake that caused $29 billion in damage statewide ---- $3 billion alone to California hospitals.

The law prompted Palomar Pomerado to begin looking into making changes at Palomar Medical Center and Pomerado Hospital to comply with 2008, 2013 and 2030 guidelines.

Under the new law, all California hospitals must be able to withstand a magnitude 6.0 earthquake by 2008. By 2030, all hospitals must be able to remain standing, and remain in operation, if hit by a magnitude 7.0 temblor. State officials have since given hospitals that intend to meet the 2030 guidelines until 2013 to comply with the 2008 standards.

Marcia Jackson, Palomar Pomerado's vice president of marketing, planning and business development, said the hospital district will negotiate a contract with Anshen Allen. Soon after, Jackson said, the architect and the district will begin holding a series of meetings with doctors, nurses, other district employees and the community before Anshen Allen creates its final designs.

The district also must determine how it will pay for the massive rebuilding project. Palomar Pomerado's new chief executive officer, Michael Covert, said recently that fund would probably be raised with philanthropic donations, hospital revenues and through the sale of bonds.

The design process could take about two years, Palomar Pomerado officials said.

Palomar Pomerado board members decided in 2001 to spend more to completely redesign their hospitals instead of spending $56 million to simply install braces and supports to meet the 2008 standards.

The $329 million project is essentially two jobs: In November, board members approved spending a maximum of $266 million to build a new patient-treatment tower ---- to replace the current tower that will be demolished ---- at the 319-bed Palomar Medical Center; and up to an additional $63 million to build a new patient tower, medical office building and increase the number of beds at the 119-bed Pomerado Hospital.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.

3/20/03