Chuck Cova, president and CEO of Marian Regional Medical Center, is pushing a construction-grade piece of cardboard back into place over a stained-glass window with the wooden handle of a large, rectangular broom.
It’s a windy Monday afternoon in Santa Maria. Cova, hospital spokeswoman Jessa Brooks, and I are standing in a courtyard between the existing hospital and the white castle that is the new state-of-the-art facility on Palisade Drive.
“The architect looked at this space between the existing hospital and the new one and thought it would be the perfect place for an outdoor dining area,” Cova says enthusiastically, and then adds that people eating outside will be able to admire the chapel’s custom-made stained glass over their sandwiches and sodas.
He then walks over and peels some of the protective cardboard from the window to show off an ornately beautiful design of multi-colored shapes. The glass in the new chapel, along with another display installed in a corridor off the main entrance, is just one example of the attention to detail hospital officials put into the facility’s construction.
“We wanted to preserve the history and traditions of the hospital and the community, and provide a safe healing facility for our patients,” Cova explains.
The architect of the new hospital, he says, “spent time studying the Santa Maria architecture to complement the rest of the city and to meet the expectations of the community.”
The new hospital is approximately 235,000 square feet and came in at a cost of $218 million. Approximately $17 million of that total was paid for by the community through the hospital’s Cornerstone campaign. The rest is coming through loans and tax-exempt bonds. But it’s worth every penny, Cova says.
All of the components of the 191-bed hospital are there for a reason: The stained glass in the corridor came from the main home of the Sisters of the Order of St. Francis in Redwood City. The decor is mission style to compliment other buildings in Santa Maria and the history of California. All of the sinks, and even the floors in some areas, are made out of Epoxy, without the use of grout, to eliminate the spread of bacteria. The carpet is color coordinated to indicate which floor you’re on. There’s a 24-hour vending machine area for visitors.
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And then there’s the medical equipment: imaging and X-ray equipment in the Emergency Room; robotic surgical systems; a pneumatic tube transport system for sending medication and labwork throughout the hospital; a 21-bed newborn intensive care unit; isolation rooms; and more. There’s even a helopad for emergency transport.
“This is the most advanced technology you’re going to have in a hospital on the Central Coast,” Cova says.
Once the hospital is operating, the administration will apply to become a designated trauma center like Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara.
“We’ve become what you call a ‘receiving hospital,’” Cova says.
It used to be people would have to go to Los Angeles or Fresno for specialized care.
“Now we have hospitals calling us saying, ‘Can we transfer patients to you?’” he says.
Another important feature of the hospital: privacy.
Cova and spokeswoman Jessa Brooks explain that hospital staffers reached out to the community to see what was most important to them in a hospital.
“Privacy came up again and again,” Cova says. “That’s why we have private rooms for our patients.”
There are also special rooms for family members and visitors to wait in while their loved ones are in the hospital, and a balcony overlooking the chapel so the hospital’s sickest patients can have quiet spiritual moments without going in public.
“We wanted private rooms, advanced technology, safety, comfort, and a healing environment,” Cova says.
“We wanted this to be a sustainable building that would last for generations to come,” Brooks adds.
She says she’s already heard from a local resident who scheduled her surgery to coincide with the grand opening of the new hospital “so she could be one of the first patients in the new hospital.”
Contact Managing Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 16-23, 2012.