Healthcare Design - November 2014 - 91

on the same floor where the cardiology department
is located in the hospital, etc. By aligning practices
by floor and designing around that, this made it
more operationally efficient, not only for the staff but
also for doctors, patients, and families who come
into the building."
For physicians in particular, this translates to a
much more streamlined work environment. "Our
general surgeons are there in the clinic, and the OR
is down the hall in the hospital," King says. "When
they come to work, they don't have to leave this
campus, whether they're in clinic or surgery, or seeing a patient in the hospital. It was really a matter of
efficiency for the clinic and our practices."
Tech update
The build-out of the new space provided a number
of improvements over the existing hospital, too. For
example, noise transference in patient rooms is lessened by acoustical ceiling tiles and no-wax sheet
vinyl flooring in the patient rooms and corridors.
And spaces, overall, were designed with flexibility in
mind. Larger ORs in addition to one hybrid OR were
built to accommodate any type of emergency or

planned surgery and were sized so that technology
could easily be updated, as needed.
"ORs were sized to be flexible, whether for
neurology, orthopedic, or general surgery," Petty
says. "All beds throughout the house have telemetry
capability, which allows them to use those beds
for med/surg or to increase their cardiology patient
load into some other areas of the hospital if they
had to. We built a lot of flexibility into the design to
meet future challenges."
Some of the diagnostic technology in the former
facility was older, making it cost prohibitive to move
to the new site, so NEA Baptist ultimately chose
to upgrade equipment instead. "We were able to
purchase new equipment with better technology,"
King says, including new mammography machines,
an MRI, a CT scanner, and a linear accelerator for
radiation treatment in the site's new cancer center.
These new capabilities also enable physicians to
participate in clinical trials and provide specialized
treatment for patients. "It's rare for a community
of this size in a rural location like this to have all of
those services under one roof," says Jason Bennett,
vice president of operations for Hoar Construction.
Future focus
The new facility is quieter and more upscale than
its predecessor, and the new location is in a less
congested area-all of which makes it easier for
practicing physicians and patients to access and
utilize the campus.

In King's view, the major benefit to the
move is the ability for physicians to come
to work and stay there. "Efficiency is the
main thing. Our physicians don't have to
drive to two to three places in town. There's
more time available to take care of patients,
so they can be in-clinic more since they're
close," he says.
Designed with shelled space for future
expansion, the hospital can grow to 300
beds, which the provider anticipates will
be needed for the growing region. "It's a
lasting facility that's going to continually
change the shape of the Jonesboro community," Talbot says.
While the hospital itself has already been
a boon to the local economy in the form of
construction jobs and an estimated 530
newly added hospital staff positions, it's also
spurring other commercial and residential

Top and above: The singlestory, standalone NEA Baptist
Cancer Center is an integrated
treatment center that houses 14
exam rooms, 20 chemotherapy
infusion bays, a radiation
therapy linear accelerator, and
a high-dose radiation treatment
room.

HCDmagazine.com 11.14

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Healthcare Design - November 2014

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