Willits Hospital Incorporates Patient-Friendly Designs

WILLITS, Calif. — On Oct. 29, the Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits opened, replacing the original hospital that was built in 1928. After beginning construction in late 2011, the hospital is now double the size of its predecessor and boasts many upgrades, according to the North Bay Business Journal.

Costing $64 million, Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital is a 74,000-square-foot facility that holds 25 private rooms, including 21 medical-surgical beds and four intensive-care unit (ICU) beds, each with their own private bathroom. After seeing 1,496 in-patient admissions, 25,109 out-patient visits and 9,410 visits to the emergency room, the expansion to the original hospital was needed. The new facility was built to create a state-of-the-art facility and to incorporate the latest technology in health care design.

The acute care center includes four new operating rooms, one endoscopy suite and a large emergency department with a helipad, two trauma beds and seven separate bays. The emergency department will remain open 24 hours a day. The new hospital also includes 35 physicians, 308 full-time employees and 34 volunteers who provide excellent care to incoming patients.

Frank R. Howard will provide a multitude of services available to patients. This includes advanced radiological diagnostics, MRI and CT imaging, mammography and bone density testing, laboratory services and a surgery center as well as the Orthopedic Joint Center of Northern California. A unique feature to the hospital will be a small farm-to-fork restaurant located within the hospital called Roots, according to the North Bay Business Journal. The food served will be healthy, and the ingredients will come from the nearby Frank R. Howard Foundation Commonwealth Garden.

The hospital took an extra step to ensure that patients received the best care and recovered as quickly as possible. According to The North Bay Business Journal, the lobbies and the MRI suite feature skylights from Sky Factory that project LED images such as different cloud formations, photos of wildlife as well as foliage from all of the different seasons. Employees at the hospital donated $175,000 to make these virtual ceilings possible. While this may seem like an extra expense, research from the Chalmers University of Technology has shown that patients who are given a view of nature are able to recover quicker and with less pain. A study at the University of California at Berkeley also shows the beneficial effects of natural scenes and gardens in the health care industry. The walls also display paintings by local artists that complete the tranquil setting for patient recovery.