Our long-awaited patient tower is now open.
Lexington Medical Center has completed the largest hospital expansion in the state’s history, a $400 million project that reflects its continued commitment to providing quality health services to people throughout the Midlands.
“We’re a community,” said Tod Augsburger, president and CEO. “Most family members and patients don’t choose to spend their day coming to the hospital. But our job is to try to make it as pleasant and as appealing of an environment as possible for when they do.”
The North Tower Atrium is just a small part of what the new medical tower has to offer. With 545,000 square feet of new space, the 10-story structure has more than 200 patient beds inside. Eight new operating rooms, each equipped with cutting-edge technology, and an expanded surgical recovery area have been added, and the newly built 951-space parking garage frees up coveted parking space in front of and around the complex for the convenience of patients and their visitors.
With more than 3,300 babies welcomed each year by Lexington Medical Center’s team of obstetricians, certified nurse midwives, nursing staff and doulas, the new Labor and Delivery unit is a welcome and medically advanced addition, complete with a Nursery, a dedicated Mother/Baby unit for postpartum patients, six antepartum rooms for patients needing extensive long-term monitoring, and a 20-bed Special Care Nursery with private rooms.
This new unit is part of the progressive quality care Lexington Medical Center has always provided for babies and their parents. Since opening in 1971, the hospital has delivered more than 100,000 infants. And it delivers more babies each year than any other hospital in the Midlands. To commemorate this remarkable feat, a photo mosaic featuring the faces of babies born at the hospital in the past 48 years proudly hangs in Labor and Delivery.
The focus on continued improvement of medical services extends to all parts of the new North Tower. Lexington Medical Center performs more than 19,000 surgeries yearly, and its surgical department is one of the most fully employed in the state. The eight newly added, technically superior, operating rooms ensure that patients receive consummate care from a team of surgical doctors, nurses and support staff.
Lexington Medical Center also focused on health and safety issues during construction of the new tower, which occasionally meant requesting a design detail that might seem strange or unnecessary to those having been involved in building other hospitals. For example, the North Tower features no patient room thresholds, the three-quarter-inch molding between the patient room and bathroom. This small, but significant change, should result in fewer falls and fewer complications for patients and visitors walking in, out and around the new building.
In addition, while all hospitals have the potential for the spread of infection, Lexington Medical Center worked hard to minimize that risk throughout the North Tower. Copper coating was added to all “high-touch areas,” such as door handles, toilet flushers, sink faucets and IV poles, because current research indicates that copper can destroy germs and reduce the risk of disease.
While the new building is beautiful and the innovative concepts, technologies and attention to detail enhance the level of care each patient receives, the hard work and professionalism of the devoted nurses, doctors, and hospital staff make Lexington Medical Center what it is today.
“We are very proud of the facility and have a tremendous amount of improvements and ‘nice spaces’ to help us care for patients,” said Tod. “But buildings and equipment don’t provide patient care — people do. We are even prouder of the staff, nurses and clinicians who use this space as an extension of their skills to provide healing and service to our patients.”
Every element in the North Tower — sweeping staircases; sunlit lobbies; modern and threshold-less patient rooms; private baby rooms; technically advanced surgical suites; copper, germ-fighting surfaces; and so much more — is just further evidence that the hospital’s doctors, nurses and staff are unwaveringly committed to meeting the needs of the community and providing them with the very best care.
Television Spot - Tomorrow has arrived.
