Healthcare Design - June/July 2019 - 14

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RIGHT: Each of the 75

private patient rooms has
an expansive window,
private bath with roll-in
accessibility, and convenient access to the dining
room and therapy gym.

J U N E /J U LY 2 01 9

development
company Aquila Healthcare
Development (Mount Dora,
Fla.) and Stevens Construction
(Fort Myers, Fla.) completed a
skilled nursing unit together in
Clermont, Fla., Aquila identified a shortage of skilled nursing beds farther south, in Lee County. So the
developer reached out to Lee Health, a public
healthcare system based in Fort Myers, about
building and leasing a new three-story, 75-bed
medical facility on its Gulf Coast Medical Center campus. The proposal was to provide postacute services for patients needing short-term
medical recovery and rehabilitation as part of
Lee Health's care continuum. "That's where the
biggest need was. There weren't enough skilled
nursing beds available, specifically around the
Gulf Coast Hospital," says Jodi Huntoon, marketing manager for Stevens Construction. "Patients were having to stay in the higher-cost
hospital setting because there were no other options available."
Construction began in October 2017, and
the Gulf Coast Medical Center Skilled Nursing
Unit, designed by Studio+ (Fort Myers), opened
in January. With patient stays averaging 18 to
24 days, the floor plan is designed to allow patients to feel at home with an open-concept
living room, dining room, and kitchen in the
center. Each unit's 25 private patient rooms are
arranged in a racetrack layout, creating a continuous corridor with benches to encourage
movement and convenient access to occupational and physical therapy rooms.
One of the main design objectives was
to provide flexibility, with patient rooms
designed to accommodate rehabilitation,
skilled nursing, and senior care patients
now, as well as adapt to different types of
rehab should the community's needs change.
Another bonus: Providing the additional
space requirements for a rehab unit allowed
for more space in each patient room as well
HORTLY AFTER

ABOVE: The use of tilt-

wall construction on the
facility reduced structural steel costs as well
as construction time (the
building was erected in
just two weeks). BELOW:
Patient floors feature a
central nurses' station
and an open layout
designed to encourage patients to move
throughout the floor,
with bench rest stops
strategically placed
throughout the space.

as additional storage on each level, says
Nathalie White, project manager and associate
at Studio+ (Fort Myers). The facility 's
3,000-square-foot therapy gym incorporates
the latest in technology and equipment that
can eventually support outpatient care, too.
With its proximity to the medical center, the
skilled nursing unit has emergency access to
the hospital and shares resources with the facility to reduce the cost of care. For example,
food is delivered from the hospital each day
and prepared via the skilled nursing unit's
warming kitchen.
Inspired by the surrounding landscape
including nearby driftwood sculptures, the
interior finishes and furniture include washed
woods to bring warmth and texture, blue and
white colors that mimic the Gulf and ocean
waters, and homelike furnishings that bring
calmness into the space. Lots of natural light
and views to the exterior are provided in the
patient rooms and living areas, as well. "We
wanted to bring the beach to the patients as
they recover," White says.

STUART GOBEY, ISLAND STUDIO PRODU CTIONS

monitor

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Healthcare Design - June/July 2019

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