Denver’s Saint Joseph Hospital to Open Dec. 13

DENVER — The new, $623 million Saint Joseph Hospital near downtown Denver is on schedule to open Dec. 13, hospital executives said during a Sept. 16 facility tour.
Totaling 831,321 square feet, the new facility is adjacent to the almost 150-year-old current hospital and will have 400 beds. The hospital will have fewer beds than the former hospital, but patients with less-severe cases will be able to transfer to outpatient facilities such as ambulatory surgery centers.
One of the most sophisticated areas of the whole hospital, and one of the most significant changes from the old hospital’s design, is the second floor. It’s called the Interventional Platform, where surgery, the cardiac cath lab, the electrophysiology lab (EP) and endoscopy services will be located near each other.
“On the same floor, we have all 21 of our ORs, which includes two heart rooms and two dedicated hybrid rooms,” said the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shawn Dufford. “A hybrid room is where you can have an open-cavity procedure, but you can also do a noninvasive procedure. We also have a dedicated neuro room with inter-operative CT scanning, two robotic suites, and the remainder of the rooms have all been designed similar [to each other] so that we can do any case in any room at any time.”
All the supplies and equipment for the operating rooms are stored on carts instead of cabinets, which can collect dust and possible infectious bacteria. Everything needed for the operating rooms is centrally located on the floor.
“It’s a design that a lot of people are trying to mimic right now. With this space, you can increase the collaboration so that our doctors can work closer with each other and run cases by each other because they’re in the vicinity,” Dufford said.
The hospital aims to be one of the most advanced cardiology centers in the region. To help with open-heart surgeries, the facility installed state-of-the-art Berchtold lights that don’t create a shadow even when a surgeon is operating directly in front of them.
“You can literally have your whole body over [the operating table] and there would be no shadow. It’s phenomenal new technology,” said Bain Farris, the hospital’s president and CEO. “When you go in for a heart procedure, the last thing you want is a shadow.”
One of the most noticeable designs to improve visitor experience is the inclusion of balconies attached to waiting rooms and floor-to-ceiling windows that allow natural light to fill the space.
“We wanted to take advantage of the Colorado weather, so there are balconies on every floor,” Farris said.
Two of the biggest operational and design changes for the new hospital are the emergency department and ambulance entry. Saint Joseph is changing its triage method, bringing patients directly into the department instead of having less-acute patients sit in a waiting area. The hospital also redesigned patient treatment areas to be similar to in-patient rooms, replacing separator curtains with glass sliding doors. There is also an area in the emergency department for seniors, which is isolated from the rest of the patients.
Design for the ambulance entry was a long-awaited change from the old hospital, said Barb Jahn, the hospital’s chief operating officer, and they involved the EMS drivers in the design process. Currently, ambulances are arriving at the same area as the loading dock and physicians’ entrance, but the new hospital has a ramp only for ambulances that leads directly into the emergency department.
Being one of the busiest birthing hospitals in the state, the new hospital has reserved the fourth floor for all women’s services, including labor and delivery. There is a dedicated elevator only for moms in labor that only operates between the first and fourth floors.
The hospital is also improving the patient experience by equipping patient rooms with private baths and showers, flat-screen televisions, Wi-Fi and a designated area where family members can stay overnight.

Denver-based Davis Partnership and H+L Architecture formed a joint venture in order to provide design services for the new Saint Joseph replacement hospital. ZGF in Portland, Ore., was the design architect, and Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction led construction.
The campus sits on nearly 50 acres with 3.5 acres of parks and garden areas. Lakewood, Colo.-based engineering firm Martin/Martin provided detention and water quality for three ponds on the campus and worked with Davis Partnership on the landscape architecture.