A hospital that feels like home

Patients at the new Martha Jefferson Hospital will enter through a front entrance reminiscent of a two-story futuristic home, with large glass windows, chimneyesque stone towers and a slanted roof. Acres of parkland will surround the hospital.

All of it is meant to quell patients’ anxiety, said Ronald J. Cottrell, the hospital’s vice president of planning and corporate development.

“We wanted to create a feeling of comfort,” Cottrell said. “It creates a sense of human scale upon arrival at the hospital.”

For more than two years, the nonprofit hospital has been working on plans for a new facility on Pantops. The plans, which were crafted from the inside out, were presented to a group of community supporters Wednesday evening at the Paramount Theater.

Martha Jefferson officials began discussing the hospital’s future in 2002 after realizing they had run out of room at their facility in Charlottesville to expand and add new technologies. The new, 176-bed hospital will be on 88 acres within Peter Jefferson Place, an office park located at U.S. 250 and Interstate 64.

Cottrell said the hospital formed 37 teams that started with the interior design of the 452,109-square-foot, five-floor building. Although the facility appears to be only two floors from the front entrance, more floors will be built into the large slope on the site, said James E. Haden, Martha Jefferson’s president and CEO.

“It doesn’t loom large,” Haden said. “We used 40 percent less of the [site] by building a portion into the side of the hill. It wouldn’t stand really high to be in Monticello’s sight.”

The hospital’s façade will be composed of brick, stone and wood. Only four floors will be visible from the outside of the building.

l The first floor will house eight operating rooms, procedure areas, recovery rooms, an intensive care unit and a telemetry unit to allow doctors to watch a patient’s heart rhythm.

l The emergency room, imaging departments and physical therapy department will be on the second floor. Cottrell said this floor would house the oncology department’s linear accelerator, which is used for radiology treatments, within a concrete vault in the side of the hill.

l The hospital’s main entrance will be located on the third floor. This floor also will house birthing rooms, a nursery and room for general and women-specific surgeries.

l The scenic fourth floor is where the dining room will be located.

The lowest floor is reserved for the hospital’s physical plant, pharmacy and laboratories.

Cottrell said the hospital’s interior decoration hasn’t been planned yet, but he expects to see colors and materials similar to the ones used in Martha Jefferson’s Outpatient Care Center, which is located near the new site.

Hospital administrators have said the new facility will be more comfortable for patients. All rooms will be private and include areas for family to stay overnight.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2009, with a completion date set for 2012. The hospital has done some site work already this year, but Cottrell said Martha Jefferson is working with Albemarle County to get an erosion and sediment permit to start building the pad upon which the hospital will sit.

Haden said officials have waited until now to release the building’s design because the staff wanted to focus on how the building would be used.

“Ultimately it’s not about bricks and mortar,” Haden said. “It’s about a great space for our doctors and our caregivers to take care of the community members who come and use Martha Jefferson Hospital for the next 100 years.”

The hospital hasn’t made firm plans on what will happen to its old site, although it has held community meetings to gather input. A study commissioned by the hospital recommended the site would be a good location for senior housing and a grocery store.