Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center
by K. Robert Wendel

It's a dangerous world out there.

Between threats of bio or nuclear terror, airline hijackings and suicide bombers, Americans are realizing they need to be prepared for the unexpected.

At Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center in suburban Phoenix, some of those preparations are under way with the construction of a new, $28 million level 1 trauma center. "A lot of consideration was put into designing the emergency room to accommodate a major disaster," said project manager Gong Liu from the Tempe office of general contractor McCarthy Building Cos. "When we are finished this summer, this will be a regional disaster center."

advertisement

Work on the project started last July, with a planned opening in September.

The two-story, 70,000-sq.-ft. emergency room features a unique - and large - helicopter pad perched on top of the emergency department's roof. A 12,900-sq.-ft. concrete landing deck can accommodate up to three regular-sized helicopters at once, or one U.S. military UH-60 Sikorsky Blackhawk weighing nearly 16 tons.

The helipad sits on isolated spring shocks, which take the impact when a helicopter touches down. The helipad also features a fully automatic aviation fire- suppression system that can contain a fuel spill.

Designers had to find windows and a roofing system that could handle the rotor wash of helicopters, especially the large military copters that would be used in the event of a major disaster.

"We had to replace all of the windows in the tower because of the rotor wash," said Tom Steimel of Phoenix-based Steimel and Associates, and a project consultant at Scottsdale Osborn. "We ran into a lot of unique things between the windows, the roofing uplift and the sheer weight of the helicopters."

Two large elevators are solely dedicated to moving patients from the helipad to the first- floor emergency room.

In another nod to a massive disaster, the emergency department is designed for segregation from the rest of the medical center.

"Part of the disaster issues are bio terrorism," said Patty Powers, lead architect with the Phoenix office of architect NTD Stichler. "In case of a bio terror attack, we are able to separate the emergency department from the rest of the hospital to protect the people that work there."

The emergency department's 44,000-sq.-ft. first floor is a dedicated emergency room with four trauma bays and seven exam rooms. The second floor was designed as shell space, but contractors are moving forward with a tenant- improvement project to turn the 26,000-sq.-ft. space into an intensive- care unit.

"In the emergency room, you don't have typical operating rooms," said Bob Grandt, a project manager for the Phoenix office of Sturgeon Electric, the electrical contractor.
"You do have some exam rooms and a trauma center, so you have a certain mount of imaging equipment in there."

The project, which features a new covered ambulance port, sits on 65 drilled friction piers ranging from 36 -in. to 96 -in. in diameters. The steel- framed building is clad in EIFS. Saguaro Steel erected the frame with Suntec Concrete handling the concrete work. Both are Phoenix firms.

Steimel said the expansion is not only creating a level 1 trauma center but will be good for the hospital's business.

"You always hear about emergency rooms losing money, but Scottsdale Osborn has found that its business is fed by the emergency room," he added.

>Healthcare Overview
>Specialty Hospitals
>Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center
>Albuquerque Presbyterian Hospital
>Banner Estrella Medical Center
>Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center