Glendale Adventist Medical Center recently completed the last phase of its $220 million West Tower project and opened to patients. The last phase of the three-floor project adds 60 beds, which brings to 515 the total beds at Glendale. The phase, which cost $17 million, includes a brand new cardiac intensive care unit, a neuro-intensive care unit and a 20-bed orthopedics unit over three floors. The new units were certified by state health inspectors and opened to patients on Jan. 16. The units are made up of single-occupancy rooms, each with a dedicated bathroom. All the ICU rooms have a pull-out bed so family members can sleep over, as well as an Internet-connected computer terminal for the use of patients and their families. Warren Tetz, chief operating officer of Glendale Adventist, said it’s atypical for a hospital to provide so much support for family members to stay with patients in an intensive care unit, but the hospital’s goal was to provide as much access to patients and families as possible. Access, he explained, meant not only making the hospital campus more accessible with a new roadway that connects the new building to the rest of the campus, but amenities like beds and computer terminals for the use of family members.. The West Wing has been under construction for more than ten years. Phase one opened in 2003; phase two included the shell of the new tower. This final phase was the interior build-out of the new space. The hospital hopes that the new acute care units will not only attract more Glendale residents to the hospital, 48 percent of whom leave the city for care, but will draw more people from outlying areas. While the opening comes at a time when health care expenditures nationally are showing signs of easing and hospital admissions are down, Tetz said Glendale’s admissions are up significantly and the need for state-of-the-art acute care facilities will continue to rise with the aging population. — Judy Temes
