St. Vincent Mercy MEdical Center announces $90MM Legacy Project

Toledo Business Journal, Apr 01, 2004

St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center has announced a five-year, $90 million investment called the Legacy Project.

"The Legacy Project reinforces Mercy's 150 year commitment to our patients, staff, physicians, and community," stated Steven L. Mickus, president and CEO, Mercy Health Partners. "Our entire community - employees, physicians, patients, and families - depends on us to deliver quality healthcare and caring service that honors out mission and resources, The Legacy Project commits to the responsible use of these community assets to enhance patient care." The Legacy Project will be comprised of several signature projects including the construction of a freestanding Heart Center Pavilion that will centralize all elements of cardiac care currently located in different areas throughout the hospital. The Legacy Project also will include major enhancements in technology, research, and facility design in key critical care areas including trauma, oncology, neurosurgery, and neonatal intensive care services. In addition, the Legacy Project will renovate the core of St. Vincent, enhancing nursing and patient care units built in the 1940s and 1960s.

The St. Vincent Heart Center Pavilion will be a freestanding 150,000 square foot building located across Cherry Street and will connect to the main hospital by way of a skywalk. The four-story Heart Center Pavilion will house 58 beds, four cardiac catheterization labs, an electrophysiology lab, and dime open-heart operating suites with recovery areas. The pavilion is designed to enhance patient care through the use of stateof-the-art technology and facility design.

The Heart Center Pavilion will be "the cardiac facility of the future," according to Jeffrey D. Peterson, president and CEO of St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, "In addition, the entire Legacy Project will enhance St. Vincent's ability to provide quality services in the critical areas for which we are known throughout the region, including trauma, oncology, neurosciences, and neonatal care."

Other enhancements to St. Vincent will include:

* The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will add seven beds and upgrade, with new technology to meet the needs of a growing number of premature or sick infants referred to Mercy Children's Hospital.

* Enhancements to St. Vincent's growing trauma program will include a dedicated comprehensive trauma unit, upgrades in the emergency / trauma center, and additional resources for research.

* The renovation of the core of St. Vincent will include reconstruction of the majority of patient care units to increase the size of patient rooms and will more than double the number of private rooms. Additional waiting and consultation rooms will be built throughout the main hospital, with a modular design to allow families more privacy. These changes are made possible by using space that will be freed up as a result of moving cardiac services to the Heart Center Pavilion.

* Oncology services will be enhanced through consolidation of patient care areas and with the addition of a new linear accelerator to provide radiation therapy.

* Enhancements will be made to the St. Vincent Surgery Center operating suites including upgrades to technology.

More than 400 construction jobs will be utilized over the period of the project. St. Vincent officials expect 60-70 permanent jobs will be added, including nurses, therapists, and support staff.

St. Vincent is the regional referral center for Mercy Health Partners, a not-for-profit health system in northwest Ohio. Mercy is composed of St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, St. Charles Mercy Hospital, St. Anne Mercy Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Tiffin, Mercy Hospital of Willard, Mercy Children's Hospital, St. Vincent & Medical College Life Flight, Mercy College of Northwest Ohio, and Defiance Clinic / Mercy Hospital in Fall 2004.