Hospital grows into West Wing addition
By Shannon Sollinger
Inova Loudoun Hospital at Lansdowne is about to grow by 65,000 square feet, starting with the Sept. 10 ribbon-cutting for a new 12-bed intensive-care unit.
The ICU will share the second floor of the four-story West Wing addition with respiratory therapy. A 14-bed pediatric unit will open on the third floor later this year, and a 12-bed nursing unit, labs and central pharmacy will occupy the first floor.
About 2012, said Project Coordinator Teri Jones, the 12 beds on the first floor will become ICU beds.
The addition brings the hospital's ICU bed count to 23, and the total number of patient beds to 184. The hospital opened in the mid-1990s with 80 beds, the most the state would allow at the time, and 40 fewer than at the old hospital in Leesburg.
The top floor will house the equipment that makes the building run – furnaces, chillers, oxygen tanks and cabling.
Construction was well under way two years ago when Randy Kelley took over as Inova Loudoun's chief executive officer.
"It's better space in terms of how we deliver intensive care," Kelley said. "And the pediatric unit will have more space for young patients and their families."
The hospital's current pediatric department has eight beds.
Highlights of the West Wing:
65,000 square feet on four floors. The current hospital is 240,000 square feet, and is associated with a 60,000-square-foot medical office building.
12-bed intensive care unit. Each ICU room is equipped with ceiling-mounted patient lifts, a cabinet-mounted swivel toilet with privacy screening, and equipment booms for medical and respiratory care.
Four ICU rooms are equipped for negative air pressure for isolation.
ICU family waiting area, including quiet/private alcove, private room for medical consultation and bathroom with shower.
Patient/family kitchen area.
Television with DVD player in each room.
"Green" lighting in most staff areas – lights turn out when no one is using the space.
6,000-square-foot respiratory therapy department, including arterial blood gas laboratory for evaluating patients' oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
14-bed pediatric unit opens later this year – common room window overlooks helipad.
"The equipment budget for the second floor alone was $2.4 million," Jones said. "It's a serious commitment to medical services for the county."